Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[ManueB]

A disheartening day with four chickens having health issues. Brune obviously hadn't gotten all the egg out yesterday even if I couldn't feel anything. She was very unwell today acting eggbound. I gave her a warm bath, got her inside the house in the pet carrier with a hot bag, gave her some calcium. After a few hours she grew restless so I brought her back outside. In the evening she wasn't better. She still managed to poop, eat and drink but I 'm not sure she will make it.
Nougat's hard molt is finally beginning to put her off. She looks terrible. And Cannelle also wasn't doing good today.
So three out of four of my ex-batts are miserable. I know they won't all make it to the spring but I hate seeing them like this.
And on top of that, I saw this morning that Léa had plucked her feathered legs and made a big bloody mess. I picked her up for the first time and got her in the bathroom to clean her leg and put some betadine on it. But two hours later, it was in the exact same state and she had plucked the other leg to blood also. I saw her doing it so I'm sure it's not from other birds bullying her .

The positive new of the day is that I left the barn open for Gastounet during the day and put their feeder in front of it. Piou-piou laid in the barn, which made Gastounet a very happy rooster. He hates it when she lays in the coop as he can't be with her. I think he would maybe have liked to sleep in the barn but Piou-piou didn't want to hear anything about it. It's not ready yet, there isn't even a roost but I'm sure he wants to get away from Théo.

Brune's behind

Hard molt, miserable Nougat

Friends again today

She stole a piece of grass from his beak!

Best ennemies

Cannelle and Nougat keeping misery's company

Nice sunset after a dull grey day.

 

[Perris]

they are not really flat, and there isn't always a real stone wall between them. The widest ones are about 12 meters / yards and the most narrow around five. I think there are about eleven or twelve, we only use 7 either to grow vegetables or as pastures for the neighbors cows and donkeys.

I'd love to see a photo of the latter. This is the most extreme sort of livestock farming I've seen to date; the donkey's easy but I have no idea how that cow got there!

 

[Perris]

So three out of four of my ex-batts are miserable. I know they won't all make it to the spring but I hate seeing them like this.

It's tough, but know you are making their lives a whole lot better than they used to be.

 

[RoyalChick]

A disheartening day with four chickens having health issues. Brune obviously hadn't gotten all the egg out yesterday even if I couldn't feel anything. She was very unwell today acting eggbound. I gave her a warm bath, got her inside the house in the pet carrier with a hot bag, gave her some calcium. After a few hours she grew restless so I brought her back outside. In the evening she wasn't better. She still managed to poop, eat and drink but I 'm not sure she will make it.
Nougat's hard molt is finally beginning to put her off. She looks terrible. And Cannelle also wasn't doing good today.
So three out of four of my ex-batts are miserable. I know they won't all make it to the spring but I hate seeing them like this.
And on top of that, I saw this morning that Léa had plucked her feathered legs and made a big bloody mess. I picked her up for the first time and got her in the bathroom to clean her leg and put some betadine on it. But two hours later, it was in the exact same state and she had plucked the other leg to blood also. I saw her doing it so I'm sure it's not from other birds bullying her .

The positive new of the day is that I left the barn open for Gastounet during the day and put their feeder in front of it. Piou-piou laid in the barn, which made Gastounet a very happy rooster. He hates it when she lays in the coop as he can't be with her. I think he would maybe have liked to sleep in the barn but Piou-piou didn't want to hear anything about it. It's not ready yet, there isn't even a roost but I'm sure he wants to get away from Théo.

Brune's behind
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Hard molt, miserable Nougat
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Friends again today
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She stole a piece of grass from his beak!
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Best ennemies
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Cannelle and Nougat keeping misery's companyView attachment 3320481
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Nice sunset after a dull grey day.
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Sorry for the rough day. I never heard of a chicken plucking out their own feathers. I wonder why.

 

[ManueB]

Sorry for the rough day. I never heard of a chicken plucking out their own feathers. I wonder why.

It does happen both to body feather and feet feather. We talked about it on Shadrach's thread for body feathers - the observation was that sole of the hens that have poor quality feathers ( brittle or broken) seem to pluck at them like a habit, sort of similar to eating one's nails. I don't know why. And for feet feathers, I looked it up : when the feathers are growing and still have bloods in their quilt, apparently it can be quite itchy. That and the fact that feather feet's are very prone to SLM. Théo probably has SLM, but I'm certain Léa doesn't, at least not yet.

I'd love to see a photo of the latter. This is the most extreme sort of livestock farming I've seen to date; the donkey's easy but I have no idea how that cow got there!View attachment 3320499

Well our place isn't as rocky as this ! But cows can be very agile. We had a lot of problems with a female calf, Marguerite, who kept climbing down the wall into our vegetable garden and enticed the adults to follow her .

 

[Perris]

But cows can be very agile. We had a lot of problems with a female calf, Marguerite, who kept climbing down the wall

Wow - love that photo. I had no idea they could climb walls.
Imaginary chat with Marguerite: 'what do you want to be when you grow up?' 'A goat'

 

[RoyalChick]

It does happen both to body feather and feet feather. We talked about it on Shadrach's thread for body feathers - the observation was that sole of the hens that have poor quality feathers ( brittle or broken) seem to pluck at them like a habit, sort of similar to eating one's nails. I don't know why. And for feet feathers, I looked it up : when the feathers are growing and still have bloods in their quilt, apparently it can be quite itchy. That and the fact that feather feet's are very prone to SLM. Théo probably has SLM, but I'm certain Léa doesn't, at least not yet.

Well our place isn't as rocky as this ! But cows can be very agile. We had a lot of problems with a female calf, Marguerite, who kept climbing down the wall into our vegetable garden and enticed the adults to follow her .
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Very interesting on the feathers and the cows. But I had to give a because of the gorgeous pictures.
I have a soft spot for donkeys - and of course a dark, almost black donkey is just and the white eye-liner

 

[MaryJanet]

Very interesting on the feathers and the cows. But I had to give a because of the gorgeous pictures.
I have a soft spot for donkeys - and of course a dark, almost black donkey is just and the white eye-liner

I fell head over heels for that donkey too

 

[ManueB]

Very interesting on the feathers and the cows. But I had to give a because of the gorgeous pictures.
I have a soft spot for donkeys - and of course a dark, almost black donkey is just and the white eye-liner

I fell head over heels for that donkey too

The donkey was one of three males, Cumba. I agree he's beautiful!
My neighbor sold all her donkeys a few months ago. I wrote a post about them on FBA. She hadn't halter trained any of them and they got out of control and kept escaping. And, she didn't have access to enough pastures to keep both the donkeys and the cows.
*********
Brune passed a piece of egg shell during the night and she was back to her normal self today ! I'm really relieved. In fact she laid a normal egg in the morning. I hope this was a one shot thing as she has never had laying problems before.
Both Cannelle and Nougat still looked pretty miserable but I think Cannelle's molt should soon be over now.

We harvested walnuts for the first year from a walnut tree my partner planted eleven years ago, that he took from his grandma's place when she died.
The chickens helped us. Merle and Gaston love walnuts!

Piou-piou laid again in the barn. I left the first egg so she wouldn't be tempted to find another nest elsewhere that I would have to look for everywhere. We didn't see her, but in the afternoon my partner found a new egg.
Blanche also laid before I opened the coop. And Léa's leg seemed a lot better.

Running in the mountains this morning. The larches have started to turn orange in the last few days. It's beginning to feel like fall at last - we should get a week of storm and hopefully some snow next week!

 

[MaryJanet]

The donkey was one of three males, Cumba. I agree he's beautiful!
My neighbor sold all her donkeys a few months ago. I wrote a post about them on FBA. She hadn't halter trained any of them and they got out of control and kept escaping. And, she didn't have access to enough pastures to keep both the donkeys and the cows.
*********
Brune passed a piece of egg shell during the night and she was back to her normal self today ! I'm really relieved. In fact she laid a normal egg in the morning. I hope this was a one shot thing as she has never had laying problems before.
Both Cannelle and Nougat still looked pretty miserable but I think Cannelle's molt should soon be over now.

We harvested walnuts for the first year from a walnut tree my partner planted eleven years ago, that he took from his grandma's place when she died.
The chickens helped us. Merle and Gaston love walnuts!

Piou-piou laid again in the barn. I left the first egg so she wouldn't be tempted to find another nest elsewhere that I would have to look for everywhere. We didn't see her, but in the afternoon my partner found a new egg.
Blanche also laid before I opened the coop. And Léa's leg seemed a lot better.View attachment 3321825View attachment 3321826View attachment 3321828View attachment 3321831View attachment 3321832
Running in the mountains this morning. The larches have started to turn orange in the last few days. It's beginning to feel like fall at last - we should get a week of storm and hopefully some snow next week!
View attachment 3321830

I'm so glad you had a better day