Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[Perris]

Since january up to yesterday, out of 218 days she has laid 207 eggs. A lot more than her three siblings.

wow! That is a lot. Maybe she will go straight from broody into moult, and have a really good rest. She deserves it. I hope you have a nice break away yourself - enjoy!

 

[RoyalChick]

wow! That is a lot. Maybe she will go straight from broody into moult, and have a really good rest. She deserves it. I hope you have a nice break away yourself - enjoy!

Molting has definitely started here. Everyone but Bernie is looking a bit scruffy.

 

[Perris]

Molting has definitely started here. Everyone but Bernie is looking a bit scruffy.

it is quite staggered here, reflecting the erratic weather we've had this summer I think. Most of the boys have been at it gently for some time (Tintern has been tailless for about a month!), and the girls are all over the place. For example, Janeka started early and is nearly finished (and I'm hoping she will start laying again soon, before Christmas at any rate), Puffin has just started but will be done in about a fortnight as she drops them almost all at once, and at least 5 have yet to start. If it avoids an egg drought I actually prefer it this way

 

[RoyalChick]

it is quite staggered here, reflecting the erratic weather we've had this summer I think. Most of the boys have been at it gently for some time (Tintern has been tailless for about a month!), and the girls are all over the place. For example, Janeka started early and is nearly finished (and I'm hoping she will start laying again soon, before Christmas at any rate), Puffin has just started but will be done in about a fortnight as she drops them almost all at once, and at least 5 have yet to start. If it avoids an egg drought I actually prefer it this way

Everyone still laying here. Well Bernie only lays sporadically anyway so hard to tell if she has slowed down.

 

[ManueB]

Some of my chickens, especially the three regular broodies, have began molting, but they're not at the stage where it really shows.

I was back yesterday evening. My partner was just finishing to set the window with a neighbour who came over to help. There is still some finishing to be done but at least there's a window to close the entrance while he's gone for a few days.
There was a lot of chicken drama as well. Four broodies is a lot especially with a really aggressive one. Lulu isn't only human aggressive, she is pretty bad with Chipie and Mélisse. It's a good thing Piou-piou and her don't share the same space during the day because she could do her some serious damage.
And things are getting worse with Théo. I was naïve to think they could get better. Théo is so aggressive that even when Gaston makes a show of pretending not to see him when he comes in the chicken yard in the evening he has to crow and crow and go pick a fight. I think every time he is afraid he reacts with more aggression. Gaston is getting to the point of not letting him in the coop anymore. At worse he can sleep in the run while it's warm but I'm not sure he would do that willingly and it could only be for another month.

Laure laid two soft eggs last night. And it's still very hot, 30 /92 at 7pm. Normally, temperatures drop after the 15 august. We are all hoping it will be the case !

Entrance. The bow-window has the same effect on chickens and cats : they are wondering who is this new chicken /cat .

 

[BDutch]

Sorry to hear Theo still feels miserable as a rooster without his own girls. Imho it seems the best solution to create a new setup away from the current coop for Theo with 2-3 smaller hens that are not the favourites of Gaston. If you keep Theo +2/3 hens locked in their own territory , I really think your and your chickens life wil get easier. Of course it has to wait until the work on the house has finished. But please consider a permanent change for Theo’s sake. Or maybe you can find him a new home like you did for your other rooster who is now a proud gentlemen (sorry I forgot the name)

Congrats with the beautiful terrace door/window. Its a great plus to your house.

 

[RoyalChick]

Some of my chickens, especially the three regular broodies, have began molting, but they're not at the stage where it really shows.

I was back yesterday evening. My partner was just finishing to set the window with a neighbour who came over to help. There is still some finishing to be done but at least there's a window to close the entrance while he's gone for a few days.
There was a lot of chicken drama as well. Four broodies is a lot especially with a really aggressive one. Lulu isn't only human aggressive, she is pretty bad with Chipie and Mélisse. It's a good thing Piou-piou and her don't share the same space during the day because she could do her some serious damage.
And things are getting worse with Théo. I was naïve to think they could get better. Théo is so aggressive that even when Gaston makes a show of pretending not to see him when he comes in the chicken yard in the evening he has to crow and crow and go pick a fight. I think every time he is afraid he reacts with more aggression. Gaston is getting to the point of not letting him in the coop anymore. At worse he can sleep in the run while it's warm but I'm not sure he would do that willingly and it could only be for another month.

Laure laid two soft eggs last night. And it's still very hot, 30 /92 at 7pm. Normally, temperatures drop after the 15 august. We are all hoping it will be the case !
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Entrance. The bow-window has the same effect on chickens and cats : they are wondering who is this new chicken /cat .
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That is a very fancy window/door!

 

[ManueB]

Sorry to hear Theo still feels miserable as a rooster without his own girls. Imho it seems the best solution to create a new setup away from the current coop for Theo with 2-3 smaller hens that are not the favourites of Gaston. If you keep Theo +2/3 hens locked in their own territory , I really think your and your chickens life wil get easier. Of course it has to wait until the work on the house has finished. But please consider a permanent change for Theo’s sake. Or maybe you can find him a new home like you did for your other rooster who is now a proud gentlemen (sorry I forgot the name)

Housing isn't the issue. We built the woodshed so that it could be used as a coop, and it is part of Théo's territory since that's where I put his food. I would just need to block some openings we made when we were sleeping in it keeping watch for the boar.
But I can't "give hens" to Théo. All the hens, apart from Piou-piou, hate Théo. And rightly so because he treats most of the hens that he sees as Gaston's hens, as ennemies. I'm not going to force hens to sleep with Théo because he is being a brat. And anyway I don't see how I could do that without locking them up.

The one hen I could try to convince maybe to sleep with Théo in another place than their usual coop, is Piou-piou. But Théo is mostly interested by Merle. He would always come to try to get her.
If we made a new set up very far on the property in a place Théo and Piou-piou don't know, maybe it could work. We have ruled that out from the start, because us being near and able to hear them is the main way we can keep them from being killed by predators.

I don't want to re-home Théo because anyone around here is going to eat him as soon as he pretends to go for their leg. People love roosters here but they also love them for dinner.

If Théo keeps getting in trouble I will have to make him sleep either in the woodshed or in the small coop. But that would be an emergency solution. We built the small coop for this exact reason.

And yes, we are very happy with how the window and tile came out. But there's so much work that should be done on this house, and while we feel doing a bit is a way to compensate for not paying a rent, we are both weary of investing too much time, energy and money in a house that will not belong to us.

I almost didn't take pictures today. It was too hot !

Two tiny broodies.

A cooked cat.

Hens dipping their feet in water from the hose to try to keep cool

The garden finally does what it should in summer.

 

[Perris]

The garden finally does what it should in summer.

that produce looks fantastic! ratatouille for tea?

 

[BDutch]

that produce looks fantastic! ratatouille for tea?

I think this combination is too weird for any French people. ?