Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[BDutch]

Thanks for explaining Theo’s (im)possibilities.

 

[ManueB]

that produce looks fantastic! ratatouille for tea?

It's way too hot for either ! Ratatouille takes ages to cook and I'm really trying to keep the house as cool as possible.
It's funny though because I did see a Ratatouille the day you posted that but of another kind. Ratatouille is a cute LGD (livestock guardian dog) puppy that I wrote about on another thread ! https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...es-stories-of-our-flock.1286630/post-27769837 He is in the awkward stage now, and staying with his dad and mum with the rams and a few ewes and lambs that were too weak to go higher up in the mountains in August. He is the white puppy inside the pen and the dog outside is his mum Alice. He is very lucky, I don't think many dogs get to grow up with their family and their herd !

***************
The heat is hard for about half of the chickens. I don't think Nougat will survive the heat wave, she is not well at all. She pooped blood last night, and tonight she went to sleep on the floor , on Kara's nest, instead of trying to roost. I've been giving her metacam two or three days a week the last month and it really seemed to help her for several hours after, but she hasn't been eating the last two days and I didn't want to stress her with a syringe. Tonight she gave me some looks that felt to me as if she said she was really resigned to leave. Or maybe it's just me imagining it. I hope she makes it until tomorrow night or the next day which is when my partner should be back home so she can see him.

Laure is still laying soft or no shell eggs. We gave her calcium citrate up to yesterday, between 600 and 800 mg, so i'm confident it doesn't make a difference. I'm wondering now if there's anything I could give as herbal supplements to try to prevent an infection, which doesn't seem to have happened up to now.

And with the heat, I think Alba stopped laying two days in a row for the first time since she got here ! The good health new is that her bumble foot seems to be healing fairly well. It's not swollen at all and I think it should be a matter of two or three weeks.
Mélisse was not quite well for two days, but is better today. This meant she didn't go out of the chicken yard to hang out with Théo and he was very upset about it. He didn't even watch over Piou-piou ! So he was glad when she was better today.

The only good thing about this heat is that the roosters have toned down. I don't think things are better between them- just that they are too tired at the end of the day to pick a fight. For three days now I've managed to set Théo to sleep without any fight, and some small interventions from me. I let him walk Piou-piou over to the coop but before he starts making his war dance in front of Gaston I sweep him up by surprise and put him on the roost. Then, I tell Gaston he's a good guy and he has to stay on his roost even if he's unhappy about it. Hopefully it keeps working for a while .

Yesterday Nougat was still up for a bit. Today she stayed lying down in the shade

Early morning.

Annette's eye lids are grey like her skin. Her comb is also sort of dark purple.

Laure

Mélisse now renamed saucisse . It suits her funny temper very well .

Thanks for your help Chipie .

Mélisse Saucisse.

Piou-piou.

Broody Lulu.

A narrow escape- right at the end .

 

[MaryJanet]

Chipie! The beans did not need to be rearranged.

 

[BDutch]

So sorry for Nougat and Laure.

 

[ManueB]

Finally a small thunderstorm with a bit of rain this morning has brought the temperature down a bit below 30. It's a welcome respite for both humans and chickens.

Nougat is still alive. Tuesday she did not get up from her nest in the coop and spent the whole day lying down there. My partner got home in the evening and she was still there. It looked like she wasn't so weak to the point of not being able to get up but she did not want to. Yesterday, I carried her in the run toward noon and she went out and stayed outside lying around most of the day. Today we did the same but she has definitely taken a turn for the worse physically. She's had nothing to eat since Monday. Her crop is full so we made her vomit a bit, but she's too weak to do that until it really empties. We cleaned her bum so she would not be too at risk of fly strike. We are trying to make her it less stressful until she goes. Up to today while she was very weak she rarely showed postures of pain but now she has some bad moments.

On Tuesday, Laure laid pieces of a soft shell egg and she didn't manage to get it all out. Yesterday she had a piece of soft shell hanging from her vent and I couldn't manage to catch her to get it out. She was really not well for the whole day. So,we decided to have her on an implant. My partner is bringing her to the vet Saturday. Unlike Kara, she doesn't show other issue than those soft shell eggs. She went from laying perfect eggs three or four times a week to suddenly those, after having laid two eggs that were abnormally huge. I don't know if it's the right thing to do, but I want to give her a chance. It is going to be very stressful for her because since we can't catch her I'll have to take her off the roost toward 5am and put her in the pet carrier while they are still asleep, and the appointment is at nine with a two hours drive so she'll be spending almost four hours crouched in the pet carrier. We'll put her in the dark so it feels a bit like a nest but it's going to be a tough ride and even at the vet I'm not sure how it will go.

On top of that, I found out Kara has an old bumblefoot. As usual when I'm paranoid on checking them for one thing (mites and lice) I forget other basic check-ups like foot and crop. I hope Alba and her can be treated in a few weeks.

One good news : Léa is slowly getting off being broody ! Only three left .

Tuesday. Nougat stayed on the floor of the coop where Kara nests all day. I thought she was looking resigned to die, more than actually physically unwell.

Laure was trying to expel pieces of soft shell and it was not going well at all.

Tuesday evening, Gaston stayed for at least ten minutes in front of Nougat before roosting. Normally he roosts next to her. She is one of his favourite hens even though she is scared of him. I think it's hard for him to see her like this.

Pictures today. Mélisse.

Kara.

Merle.

Kara

Laure was much better and Gaston did what roosters do.

Lily.

Théo may be a brat but he always wait to eat for the hens to be finished.

Nougat today looks worse. I hope it doesn't last because unlike Blanche and Cannelle, I feel like she would ask of us to put an end to it.

 

[Perris]

sorry to read about Laure's soft-shelled egg issue; you are very fond of her if I remember aright. Her comb colour looks good in the photos, so I assume the implant is intended as a preventative measure...? How long will it work for? Anyway, I hope it goes well, and that all the others with other health issues recover soon.

 

[RoyalChick]

Chipie! The beans did not need to be rearranged.

Oh but they did!

 

[RoyalChick]

Finally a small thunderstorm with a bit of rain this morning has brought the temperature down a bit below 30. It's a welcome respite for both humans and chickens.

Nougat is still alive. Tuesday she did not get up from her nest in the coop and spent the whole day lying down there. My partner got home in the evening and she was still there. It looked like she wasn't so weak to the point of not being able to get up but she did not want to. Yesterday, I carried her in the run toward noon and she went out and stayed outside lying around most of the day. Today we did the same but she has definitely taken a turn for the worse physically. She's had nothing to eat since Monday. Her crop is full so we made her vomit a bit, but she's too weak to do that until it really empties. We cleaned her bum so she would not be too at risk of fly strike. We are trying to make her it less stressful until she goes. Up to today while she was very weak she rarely showed postures of pain but now she has some bad moments.

On Tuesday, Laure laid pieces of a soft shell egg and she didn't manage to get it all out. Yesterday she had a piece of soft shell hanging from her vent and I couldn't manage to catch her to get it out. She was really not well for the whole day. So,we decided to have her on an implant. My partner is bringing her to the vet Saturday. Unlike Kara, she doesn't show other issue than those soft shell eggs. She went from laying perfect eggs three or four times a week to suddenly those, after having laid two eggs that were abnormally huge. I don't know if it's the right thing to do, but I want to give her a chance. It is going to be very stressful for her because since we can't catch her I'll have to take her off the roost toward 5am and put her in the pet carrier while they are still asleep, and the appointment is at nine with a two hours drive so she'll be spending almost four hours crouched in the pet carrier. We'll put her in the dark so it feels a bit like a nest but it's going to be a tough ride and even at the vet I'm not sure how it will go.

On top of that, I found out Kara has an old bumblefoot. As usual when I'm paranoid on checking them for one thing (mites and lice) I forget other basic check-ups like foot and crop. I hope Alba and her can be treated in a few weeks.

One good news : Léa is slowly getting off being broody ! Only three left .

Tuesday. Nougat stayed on the floor of the coop where Kara nests all day. I thought she was looking resigned to die, more than actually physically unwell.
View attachment 3919508
Laure was trying to expel pieces of soft shell and it was not going well at all.
View attachment 3919507
View attachment 3919509View attachment 3919511
Tuesday evening, Gaston stayed for at least ten minutes in front of Nougat before roosting. Normally he roosts next to her. She is one of his favourite hens even though she is scared of him. I think it's hard for him to see her like this.
View attachment 3919513View attachment 3919514
Pictures today. Mélisse.
View attachment 3919515
Kara.
View attachment 3919522
Merle.
View attachment 3919523
Kara
View attachment 3919524
Laure was much better and Gaston did what roosters do.
View attachment 3919525

View attachment 3919526
Lily.
View attachment 3919527

View attachment 3919533View attachment 3919534
Théo may be a brat but he always wait to eat for the hens to be finished.
View attachment 3919535View attachment 3919536View attachment 3919537
Nougat today looks worse. I hope it doesn't last because unlike Blanche and Cannelle, I feel like she would ask of us to put an end to it.
View attachment 3919538

Hoping for the best with the vet visit. The times I have taken chickens to the vet they have actually not been too bothered by it. Poor old Maggie would settle into the cat carrier and look very comfy. Personally I think she enjoyed a break from the others!

 

[ManueB]

sorry to read about Laure's soft-shelled egg issue; you are very fond of her if I remember aright.

Yes, we like her ! She is our different chicken. She is from the last lot that hatched here. If she was human she would maybe qualify as autistic. She makes that barking scream I got on video, she has strange habits, and my partner calls her a "iel" , the new french pronoun that was created by activists as the equivalent of "them", because she has many male characteristics .

Her comb colour looks good in the photos, so I assume the implant is intended as a preventative measure...? How long will it work for? Anyway, I hope it goes well, and that all the others with other health issues recover soon.

Yes, it is preventative. I've had hens lay soft shell eggs before without ever thinking of the implant. But every time Laure lays, the egg comes apart inside her and is expelled bits by bits. So it seems likely at some point she would get an infection, especially as it has been taking her longer and longer to expell all the egg material.
There's no way to know beforehand how a hen will react to the implant and how long it will last, between 3 to 7 or 8 months. It is called Suprelorin and it's made by a local brand (as far as an international group like Virbac can be called local...) so vets here are all using it, and it is manufactured for dogs and cats, not birds. For some chickens it works wonderfully and for others there are so many side effects they have to stop.
When we discussed it before, on RC's suggestion I looked up as a likely safer solution progestogen only human contraceptive pill, but here you can only get them with a prescription and even so they are very rarely prescribed now.

Laure's trip went relatively fine, considering I caught her on the roost a bit after five to put her in the cat's carrier and she was only back home at 12. I did what I now do with stressed chickens - put hay and an egg in the carrier and put a towel on it so they are in the dark. I hope it induces them to think they are on a nest ; my partner said it worked for Laure as she stayed sitting for the whole trip. The vet gassed her before taking her out of the carrier so she was asleep the whole time and only woke up once she was back in the carrier. She shared a ham sandwich with my partner on the way back so I suppose she wasn't stressed to the point of not eating. But she did seem very happy to be home and after a few trips back and forth to her nest, she was frolicking all afternoon ! Gaston was also very happy to see her back.
Now we have to wait a few days to see how she reacts.

Nougat has been in a horrible state since yesterday afternoon. We are hoping she passes during the night otherwise we will have to put an end to her pain tomorrow.
In lighter news the chickens had the first cob of corn from the garden and it was a huge hit.

The days have been very grey and less warm which feels much nicer but doesn't look good on pictures!
Nougat yesterday while she was still up.

Guys fence fighting again.

Kara caught the few rays of sun.

Laure back from the vet.

Gaston did not tidbit when my partner gave him some strawberries this evening - kept them all for him !

 

[MaryJanet]

Yes, we like her ! She is our different chicken. She is from the last lot that hatched here. If she was human she would maybe qualify as autistic. She makes that barking scream I got on video, she has strange habits, and my partner calls her a "iel" , the new french pronoun that was created by activists as the equivalent of "them", because she has many male characteristics .

Yes, it is preventative. I've had hens lay soft shell eggs before without ever thinking of the implant. But every time Laure lays, the egg comes apart inside her and is expelled bits by bits. So it seems likely at some point she would get an infection, especially as it has been taking her longer and longer to expell all the egg material.
There's no way to know beforehand how a hen will react to the implant and how long it will last, between 3 to 7 or 8 months. It is called Suprelorin and it's made by a local brand (as far as an international group like Virbac can be called local...) so vets here are all using it, and it is manufactured for dogs and cats, not birds. For some chickens it works wonderfully and for others there are so many side effects they have to stop.
When we discussed it before, on RC's suggestion I looked up as a likely safer solution progestogen only human contraceptive pill, but here you can only get them with a prescription and even so they are very rarely prescribed now.

Laure's trip went relatively fine, considering I caught her on the roost a bit after five to put her in the cat's carrier and she was only back home at 12. I did what I now do with stressed chickens - put hay and an egg in the carrier and put a towel on it so they are in the dark. I hope it induces them to think they are on a nest ; my partner said it worked for Laure as she stayed sitting for the whole trip. The vet gassed her before taking her out of the carrier so she was asleep the whole time and only woke up once she was back in the carrier. She shared a ham sandwich with my partner on the way back so I suppose she wasn't stressed to the point of not eating. But she did seem very happy to be home and after a few trips back and forth to her nest, she was frolicking all afternoon ! Gaston was also very happy to see her back.
Now we have to wait a few days to see how she reacts.

Nougat has been in a horrible state since yesterday afternoon. We are hoping she passes during the night otherwise we will have to put an end to her pain tomorrow.
In lighter news the chickens had the first cob of corn from the garden and it was a huge hit.

The days have been very grey and less warm which feels much nicer but doesn't look good on pictures!
Nougat yesterday while she was still up.
View attachment 3921195
Guys fence fighting again.
View attachment 3921196View attachment 3921197
Kara caught the few rays of sun.
View attachment 3921199View attachment 3921201
Laure back from the vet.
View attachment 3921202View attachment 3921203View attachment 3921204
Gaston did not tidbit when my partner gave him some strawberries this evening - kept them all for him !
View attachment 3921205

That sounds very similar to my experience of driving to and from the vet. It's not a hard drive, sometimes even pleasant if the hen likes to look out the windows, but she shows happiness when she arrives home again.

Just sharing these old photos of hens on their way home from the vet.

There is usually straw in the basket, and when there's no straw, a folded towel. But I have never put eggs in there.

Edited to add this lovely photo of Sandy gazing at the sea.