Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[ManueB]

When I saw the chickens this morning I thought they were doing ok. Only Blanche looked rather unwell. Piou-piou's wound had opened a little but nothing worrying. I found a worm in Léa's poop again, so I'm beginning deworming tomorrow.
However this evening I checked again on Piou-piou's wound and it's wide open again. It must have happened today. So we're back at the beginning (except it's cleaner). I'm not going to elaborate tonight because I'm just tired and sad.

Piou-piou

Happened to come check on her right when she was laying!

 

[BDutch]

I suppose that as long as ghe wound is clean it can heal quickly again. But please make some kind of a saddle or bandage for Piou-piou.

 

[MaryJanet]

anyone else remember Belle and Sebastien?

I still love their music.

 

[Perris]

I still love their music.

that's nice - but I wasn't thinking of the Scottish band, I was thinking of the French TV kids' show from the 1960's (from which they apparently took their name)!

 

[MaryJanet]

that's nice - but I wasn't thinking of the Scottish band, I was thinking of the French TV kids' show from the 1960's (from which they apparently took their name)!

I had no idea!

 

[Perris]

I had no idea!

The ups and downs of a boy and his dog in the French Alps came to mind when ManueB was retailing another of her lovely stories of daily life with chickens and cats in the alps

 

[RoyalChick]

When I saw the chickens this morning I thought they were doing ok. Only Blanche looked rather unwell. Piou-piou's wound had opened a little but nothing worrying. I found a worm in Léa's poop again, so I'm beginning deworming tomorrow.
However this evening I checked again on Piou-piou's wound and it's wide open again. It must have happened today. So we're back at the beginning (except it's cleaner). I'm not going to elaborate tonight because I'm just tired and sad.
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Piou-piou
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Happened to come check on her right when she was laying!
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Don’t get discouraged Manue. The wound is filling in from the base and the sides so my guess is it isn’t as bad as it was before. And cleaner is good!

 

[ManueB]

that's nice - but I wasn't thinking of the Scottish band, I was thinking of the French TV kids' show from the 1960's (from which they apparently took their name)!

The ups and downs of a boy and his dog in the French Alps came to mind when ManueB was retailing another of her lovely stories of daily life with chickens and cats in the alps

I think everyone and all generations know Belle and Sebastien here. First it was a book, then a serie, then a Japanese anime in the early 80's (that was my generation, I watched it at my grandma's house since we didn't have tv!) and recently it became a film franchise.
I have to say that in real french rural life Great Pyreneese are nothing like Belle .

Don’t get discouraged Manue. The wound is filling in from the base and the sides so my guess is it isn’t as bad as it was before. And cleaner is good!

Thanks for the comforting words. I had both a good and a bad surprise this morning. The good is that the reopened part (which is about two third the size of what it was) is drying up quickly. If we can stop Gaston from harming her again, it should end up healing. The bad is that I sewed up the saddle I ordered so it actually fits her this time, and she is not able to walk with it. She falls to the side and can not get up again. So we may try a bandage when the wound is a bit more dry. In the mean time we have to watch her and eventually lock her again in the woodshed if it gets worse.

I'm more worried about the long term, as it seems it won't be possible to just let Piou-piou back in Gaston's team. I don't want to re-home Gaston. Maybe if we add more adult hens it would help ? Léa and Merle are both refusing to mate with Gaston now in their semi broody mood.

Léa is actually turning on full broody mode. I had to take her out of the nest and take the eggs off and later in the day she was in another nest with eggs.
Merle seems to be done with it , and she acted a bit off today, lying down often and looking tired. Of course she forgot all that at lunch and kept trying to dive head first in our plates.

Blanche was also looking to be in pain. I'm hesitant to put her on pain medicine. Tonight I noticed her crop was almost empty even though she ate an egg in the afternoon. I think she may be too stressed to access the feeder in the run when Gaston is around.

The roosters had their usual rounds of fighting, but we also had a short hen fight : Piou-piou against Chipie! And once again an Ex-batt reached to take Chipie's defense, except this time it was Cannelle. Hard to believe when they spend so much time bullying her, and especially from Cannelle, when Chipie keeps trying to pick fight with her! I guess belonging to the gang comes before individual like or dislike.

Piou-piou with the saddle. It wasn't until we took her outside that we realized she was completely off balance.

After I filed Gaston's nails- he doesn't look too upset . None of the hens would let us do such a thing!

 

[RoyalChick]

I think everyone and all generations know Belle and Sebastien here. First it was a book, then a serie, then a Japanese anime in the early 80's (that was my generation, I watched it at my grandma's house since we didn't have tv!) and recently it became a film franchise.
I have to say that in real french rural life Great Pyreneese are nothing like Belle .

Thanks for the comforting words. I had both a good and a bad surprise this morning. The good is that the reopened part (which is about two third the size of what it was) is drying up quickly. If we can stop Gaston from harming her again, it should end up healing. The bad is that I sewed up the saddle I ordered so it actually fits her this time, and she is not able to walk with it. She falls to the side and can not get up again. So we may try a bandage when the wound is a bit more dry. In the mean time we have to watch her and eventually lock her again in the woodshed if it gets worse.

I'm more worried about the long term, as it seems it won't be possible to just let Piou-piou back in Gaston's team. I don't want to re-home Gaston. Maybe if we add more adult hens it would help ? Léa and Merle are both refusing to mate with Gaston now in their semi broody mood.

Léa is actually turning on full broody mode. I had to take her out of the nest and take the eggs off and later in the day she was in another nest with eggs.
Merle seems to be done with it , and she acted a bit off today, lying down often and looking tired. Of course she forgot all that at lunch and kept trying to dive head first in our plates.

Blanche was also looking to be in pain. I'm hesitant to put her on pain medicine. Tonight I noticed her crop was almost empty even though she ate an egg in the afternoon. I think she may be too stressed to access the feeder in the run when Gaston is around.

The roosters had their usual rounds of fighting, but we also had a short hen fight : Piou-piou against Chipie! And once again an Ex-batt reached to take Chipie's defense, except this time it was Cannelle. Hard to believe when they spend so much time bullying her, and especially from Cannelle, when Chipie keeps trying to pick fight with her! I guess belonging to the gang comes before individual like or dislike.

Piou-piou with the saddle. It wasn't until we took her outside that we realized she was completely off balance.
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After I filed Gaston's nails- he doesn't look too upset . None of the hens would let us do such a thing!
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Where is her wound? I thought it was sort of under a wing not in the middle of her back. But maybe I got that wrong.
Covering the wound to protect it from infection, and protecting her from damage by Gaston are two different things. You have more options with healed skin than when the wound needs air circulation.
When it is healed I could imagine you using something like vetwrap (not sure if that is what it is called or if it is available in France) to do a modified figure of 8 bandage to protect from friction and sharp nails.
What is practical all depends on where the wound is.

 

[ManueB]

Where is her wound? I thought it was sort of under a wing not in the middle of her back. But maybe I got that wrong.
Covering the wound to protect it from infection, and protecting her from damage by Gaston are two different things. You have more options with healed skin than when the wound needs air circulation.
When it is healed I could imagine you using something like vetwrap (not sure if that is what it is called or if it is available in France) to do a modified figure of 8 bandage to protect from friction and sharp nails.
What is practical all depends on where the wound is.

It is under her left wing. But a saddle / or a bandage would still help to protect it from Gaston. I wasn't thinking about protection from infection - unless it gets reopened again I think it is clean and dry enough that there's not much risk. We're putting betadine on it again twice a day and will be checking on her very regularly throughout the day so that we can spot it sooner if it opens again.

I won't try a bandage before it's sufficiently dry, I don't like the idea of keeping the wound humid, especially as we won't be able to check so often what is happening under the bandage. I have human adhesive wrap at home, but it's very adhesive, a bit too much with the brittle growing feathers, so I can maybe try to find something similar to vet wrap. Yes, I was thinking of doing an eight, but since she was so handicapped by the apron it would have to be discreet and I'm not even sure it would work. She has mobility issues with her short twisted legs.