Théo and the chickens des Sauches

ManueB · Feb 18, 2023

I woke up feeling a bit better. When I opened the coop, both Cannelle and Léa were waiting at the door to lay! Léa directly ran up to the old barn, I followed her with a light thinking after all that time without laying, she might be disoriented. She had probably already chosen her spot the days before because she went straight to where Merle lays now, which is the spot where Gaston has always tried to get the pullets to lay

.
In the meanwhile, since I wasn't there to play my usual trick to Théo locking him up in the run to allow Gaston to get out of the coop, the two roosters had picked up a fight. Théo had followed Gaston outside the chicken netting, but it didn't take much to convince him to let it drop.
For two hours in the morning Théo's team was scared and stayed in the coop, whereas Gaston's team hung out together on the other side of the house. After a while Théo's team all went out and enjoyed the sun. There was much dustbathing and sunbathing and preening again.
Apart from Léa and Cannelle, Nougat and Piou-piou also laid in the morning.

It was a lovely day for all the chickens without much squabble so I was quite surprised that roost time was havoc. The four ex-batts and Théo all attacked Chipie. She was desperately trying to stay on Théo's roost and they were not having it. She got thrown off four times and she kept coming back. She tried to sleep next to Merle and Gaston didn't say anything but Nougat attacked her from the other side. At one point she was on Théo's roost and had Théo on her left, Blanche on her right and Nougat above all attacking her. It finally ended when the ex-batts decided to go roost above and then Théo let her sleep on her roost. She really doesn't want to sleep alone on the free roost.

Dustbathing and sun session

Once again my neighbor at lunch was a bit intrusive ! He's actually much more polite than the pullets and never begs or jumps for treats , he takes the first piece delicately from my hand to give to the pullets, whereas they rip off my finger. But he has taken an unfortunate liking to jumping on the table to crow!

Perris · Feb 18, 2023

I'm delighted to see that Gaston has developed into such a well mannered gent :love

I do envy your sunshine; it's been dull and drizzly for a week here, and I and the chickens would really really like some nice warm sunny days

RoyalChick · Feb 18, 2023

ManueB said:
I woke up feeling a bit better. When I opened the coop, both Cannelle and Léa were waiting at the door to lay! Léa directly ran up to the old barn, I followed her with a light thinking after all that time without laying, she might be disoriented. She had probably already chosen her spot the days before because she went straight to where Merle lays now, which is the spot where Gaston has always tried to get the pullets to lay .
In the meanwhile, since I wasn't there to play my usual trick to Théo locking him up in the run to allow Gaston to get out of the coop, the two roosters had picked up a fight. Théo had followed Gaston outside the chicken netting, but it didn't take much to convince him to let it drop.
For two hours in the morning Théo's team was scared and stayed in the coop, whereas Gaston's team hung out together on the other side of the house. After a while Théo's team all went out and enjoyed the sun. There was much dustbathing and sunbathing and preening again.
Apart from Léa and Cannelle, Nougat and Piou-piou also laid in the morning.

It was a lovely day for all the chickens without much squabble so I was quite surprised that roost time was havoc. The four ex-batts and Théo all attacked Chipie. She was desperately trying to stay on Théo's roost and they were not having it. She got thrown off four times and she kept coming back. She tried to sleep next to Merle and Gaston didn't say anything but Nougat attacked her from the other side. At one point she was on Théo's roost and had Théo on her left, Blanche on her right and Nougat above all attacking her. It finally ended when the ex-batts decided to go roost above and then Théo let her sleep on her roost. She really doesn't want to sleep alone on the free roost.

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Dustbathing and sun session
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Once again my neighbor at lunch was a bit intrusive ! He's actually much more polite than the pullets and never begs or jumps for treats , he takes the first piece delicately from my hand to give to the pullets, whereas they rip off my finger. But he has taken an unfortunate liking to jumping on the table to crow!
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I love all your pictures because they transport me to a dream existence. But those first three pictures need extra :love

ManueB · Feb 19, 2023

Perris said:
I'm delighted to see that Gaston has developed into such a well mannered gent
I do envy your sunshine; it's been dull and drizzly for a week here, and I and the chickens would really really like some nice warm sunny days

We're supposed to get some rain at the end of the week that would be very welcome. But I completely understand you, the first time I travelled to Paris after moving to Nice, it felt like the day never rose... It's very hard to live without the sun, and even more probably once you get used to it.

RoyalChick said:
I love all your pictures because they transport me to a dream existence. But those first three pictures need extra

Well, thank you, that's a very kind comment! In real life though there is quite a lot of ugly stuff here, both esthetically and lifewise

. And we don't usually let Gastounet's team hang around on that side of the house because that's a complete blind spot for us, we can't see them there.
*******
When I opened the coop today it was Merle that was waiting to go out to lay and Gaston didn't lose any time and flew off his roost to walk her to the barn.I didn't see any of it, but Léa, Cannelle and Blanche also laid this morning and Piou-piou in the afternoon.

I took off some dead bushes and weeds to replace them with lavenders and rosemary in the morning and Gastounet's team was enthusiast about it. It's so funny now, if we take the trident out they spot it even from the other side of the garden and come running hysterically. It's actually difficult not to hurt them.

During the day however something scared the pullets and they went inside the netting. Gastounet ended jumping in to get them and Théo attacked him. This time I thought I wouldn't succeed to separate them but he did follow me again grudgingly. I think he actually understands I can get the pullets to come back to him by offering him treats to tidbit for them.

Since Théo was acting rather calm with me I tried to give him a worm and that was a mistake- he jumped at me like everytime he sees my hand close to him. But now he's really scared of me so he never actually touches me, just pretends. The ex-batts, although they do follow him and listen to his alarm noises, have gotten to a point where they are very scared of his attempts at mating and all of them will either run or show that they don't agree. Unfortunately this means he is harassing Blanche since she's very slow and also not very smart. I don't usually intervene but today I shouted at him because she looked really pitiful, and he was even more angry at me and at the whole world.

Roosting went better, Chipie had some trouble with Blanche, but she didn't find herself stuck like yesterday and as soon as all the ex-batts had climbed the ladder I pulled the double door to put them in the dark.
In other chicken worries, Léa has been lightly coughing every now and then for a few days. I see no other symptom so I'm not sure if it's dust from the feed, maybe from the wood chips I've been using as litter since we cut the ash tree, or an actual respiratory disease

Early morning

Someone was getting very loudly worried when it was two o'clock and still no scrambled egg

But then there was a more substantial meal and everything was all right

With an individual serving for Chipie as usual. She made sure no one could see her before eating.

The cats had some times with the chickens. Unfortunately Grochatila has a pretty ugly wound to his tail as of yesterday, we may have to take him to the vet.

So, I may worry for nothing but maybe not, as some say it happens in every flock. I've always found Merle's eyes to be strange. Zooming in you can see ... the reflection of the house

, but also that her pupil is not very clearly defined, and not as black as it should be ?

Perris · Feb 19, 2023

You're being hard on yourself again! It's natural for us to worry about our feathered and furry friends when something seems off; Grotchatila, Lea and Merle are lucky to have such an attentive human looking after them. Merle's pupil is much more defined than Chirk's or Sven's. Is there any indication her vision is impaired in that eye? And hopefully you won't need a trip to the vet for the cat; any clue what she did to injure her tail so?

Quenell had a funny turn here today; I saw her stagger and within seconds she was completely floppy, eyes shut, wattles turned purple. I think she may have aspirated some food at tea (or had a heart attack), and she's in the utility room for the night. I picked her up, ran my fingers along her throat, felt for heart and respiration, and her colour came back quite quickly, but she couldn't stand more than a few seconds. I've never seen anything like it - but I have had birds that seemed absolutely fine die suddenly without warning on the cusp of maturity, as she is, and maybe it was just lucky I was there when she collapsed and could revive her. Her weight is good, bum clean, and there's nothing I recognize to indicate what happened, given my limited knowledge and understanding of these episodes. If anyone else has a clue, do please share!

ManueB · Feb 19, 2023

Perris said:
You're being hard on yourself again! It's natural for us to worry about our feathered and furry friends when something seems off; Grotchatila, Lea and Merle are lucky to have such an attentive human looking after them. Merle's pupil is much more defined than Chirk's or Sven's. Is there any indication her vision is impaired in that eye? And hopefully you won't need a trip to the vet for the cat; any clue what she did to injure her tail so?

Quenell had a funny turn here today; I saw her stagger and within seconds she was completely floppy, eyes shut, wattles turned purple. I think she may have aspirated some food at tea (or had a heart attack), and she's in the utility room for the night. I picked her up, ran my fingers along her throat, felt for heart and respiration, and her colour came back quite quickly, but she couldn't stand more than a few seconds. I've never seen anything like it - but I have had birds that seemed absolutely fine die suddenly without warning on the cusp of maturity, as she is, and maybe it was just lucky I was there when she collapsed and could revive her. Her weight is good, bum clean, and there's nothing I recognize to indicate what happened, given my limited knowledge and understanding of these episodes. If anyone else has a clue, do please share!

I don't have a clue, but would like to know if she survived the night ?
In human we would think heart failure, I guess. But I don't know how often they happen with chickens.

Thanks for your thoughts on Merle's eye. Her sight is definitely good and her eye has always had that appearance. The only symptom she has ever showed is being easily tired and cold in the early morning.
Grochatila maybe got his tail stuck in mesh. It doesn't look like he got bitten. It would help if he did not rip off any bandages and lick off any disinfectant. We're monitoring closely for any swelling but he can't be kept inside 24/24, he's an ex-barn cat.

Perris · Feb 20, 2023

She survived the night, stood briefly when I went in, then down again, so we're not out of the woods yet.
That's great news about Merle's sight. Do you suspect Marek's? For comparison, this is one of Sven's eyes; I haven't had the diagnosis confirmed, and I think his sight is very poor, but he still loves life so we manage it. He too is slow to get going in the morning, but I put that down to age (he's coming 6) and the fact that he has to dodge the cockerels, who chase him and peck his comb / head given the chance.

Is there something you could spray on Grochatila's treated area that tastes horrid so stops him meddling with it? like the stuff for kids' fingernails?

Perris · Feb 20, 2023

further update on Quenell: Overnight poo was normal in appearance and quantity. She ate a breakfast of mealworms and fermented grains/peas/BOSS and a little banana, and is now back outside, preening. She's self-isolating by the back door and lacking her usual vim, but I'm optimistic for her recovery from whatever it was.

ManueB · Feb 20, 2023

Perris said:
further update on Quenell: Overnight poo was normal in appearance and quantity. She ate a breakfast of mealworms and fermented grains/peas/BOSS and a little banana, and is now back outside, preening. She's self-isolating by the back door and lacking her usual vim, but I'm optimistic for her recovery from whatever it was.

Well that's better news than I could have hoped for. It's astoniy how they can get unwell and sometimes die so quickly but also recover when they seem on death's door.

ManueB · Feb 20, 2023

Perris said:
That's great news about Merle's sight. Do you suspect Marek's? For comparison, this is one of Sven's eyes; I haven't had the diagnosis confirmed, and I think his sight is very poor, but he still loves life so we manage it. He too is slow to get going in the morning, but I put that down to age (he's coming 6) and the fact that he has to dodge the cockerels, who chase him and peck his comb / head given the chance.
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Is there something you could spray on Grochatila's treated area that tastes horrid so stops him meddling with it? like the stuff for kids' fingernails?

Thanks for the photo of Sven's eye. Six years old isn't young for a free ranging rooster, and he must have a strong spirit in him to still love life with his health issues and the younger's bullying. I don't see that anything is wrong with Merle's health, but her eyes are definitely different from that of other chickens, and I did find that they were slightly similar to pictures of ocular Marek. We will see as she grows older I guess.

As for Tila I managed to disinfect the wounds without waking him up this morning, but this evening it doesn't look good. My partner is working in a nearby town tomorrow so maybe he can ask at the drugstore if they have something like you describe. I think the usual prescription is a collar to stop the cat licking it's wounds, but that would be too dangerous in our environment, and he would go crazy if we locked him up.
*******
No one rushed out of the coop this morning, I opened the door at 7 and it seemed like it was already well past dawn. My partner wanted to stay here to work on the wood shed so I was able to leave for a longer run than I had for quite a while. I did get a text message about 2 hours after I left "rooster fight"

. That was to be expected I guess...when I came back Théo had another piece of wattle gone missing and little black spots all over his face. Small pecks but not good looking.
I found out the three ex-batts had laid (Nougat once again had laid a strange white egg, which she seems to do regularly now whereas she never had any trouble before) as had Merle and Léa. Piou-piou laid in the afternoon so that was six eggs.
My partner said Gaston had once again gotten really upset when his pullets kept going inside the chicken nettings, he ended up jumping inside and this led to the fight.
In the afternoon however, for the first time I saw Gaston trying to pick a fight with Théo for no reason at all. His three pullets were far away in the garden, he had come around to have a drink and he started challenging Théo thought the netting and making a show at the ex-batts.
Théo on the other hand was really afraid and aggressive with me all afternoon so it was no use trying to catch him. We got him off the roost at 7pm and inside the house to clean his face. He was terrified and completely prostrated. I hope he doesn't feel so bad tomorrow. The ex-batts are all shunning away from him now. In fact I wonder if Cannelle and Brune are not discreetly flirting with Gaston

.

In the afternoon we put most of the steel sheets on the roof of the wood shed and filled them with concrete on the side where they rest on the wall, to block any fox from digging. The way it's going I don't think we will be done with the new coop before the end of march !

I took about 20 pictures of Gaston's dustbathing today because it still makes me laugh so much seeing him. My partner was trying to nap next to him and had to move because he was getting covered in earth coming out of the barrel.

It was the first time today that Blanche followed her team outside the chicken netting to the path that leads to the field under. She only stayed for a few minutes and didn't go far but still that means she felt more confident.