Sounds scary. Do those kind of winds usually last for more than a day?I've bought it marketed for cats and the notice has a number of contraindications that worried me. But apparently it's quite safe for poultry.
It's not the first product I've encountered where that is the case !
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Woke up to clear blue skies and the forecasted wind turned, like often here, into a storm at noon. The chickens did have time to enjoy the morning, yesterday's rain had brought lots of bugs and worms out for them.
My partner was late for work so he asked me to give the bit of banana he keeps for Chipie every morning. I made a mistake and let her run away with a big piece in her beak. This caused her to be attacked and pecked by Brune. It bled a lot, but Chipie always heals very well from these small wounds and it was the case again.
The four ex-batts tried to lay this morning, but only Blanche and Nougat succeeded. Blanche was more active today, it was one of her good days. Merle and Léa laid later in the morning.
In the afternoon the wind became very strong. We have turning winds, and branches began flying around everywhere. I noticed that both groups of chickens understood after a while that taking shelter under a tree wasn't a good idea. The problem was that they both wanted to go inside the coop, but Théo didn't let Gaston even enter the chicken netting. So several times when it was really too dangerous I locked Théo's group in the coop, so that Gastounet's team could shelter in the run. After a while however there was so much wind that it didn't feel safe even in the run. I'm not sure how solid the polycarbonate would be if a roof tile fell on it. So I got Gaston's team in the coop early at four, and as soon as they were roosted Theo's group in. They didn't complain too much and were all roosted at 4.15 : I think they understood that it was the only safe place, and the only way they can stay together in the coop is when they are roosted.
It's bad news for us for two reasons. The first is that we won't be able to cut the fir tree if the wind continues all week. Second is that we can't use the stove with that much wind, so this means we can't heat the house. It's bearable for one night, but the temperature falls down pretty quickly.
Chipie got pecked above her nose.
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Blanche (on the right with Cannelle on the left) stayed outside quite a bit and even took a few sprints from the coop to the laurel tree and back.
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