Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[RoyalChick]

Three years "arbitrary hatch day".

When we got our six ex-batts Vanille, Blanche, Cannelle, Nougat, Caramel and Brune in January 2020, we weren't told how old they were. They started to lay on the 15 of march (all in the same week). Based on the assumption that they must have been around 5 months then, I decided randomly that the 15th of October would be considered their hatch day.

Three years old is a symbolic if slightly delusional milestone for me. When we got the ex-batts I knew nothing about chickens, high production breeds, the way ex-batts had been bred to lay an egg a day and the reproductive disorders this meant. We learnt this only a few weeks after Vanille started laying and began having serious troubles. I understood then that we wouldn't keep them for long and it became my goal to get them to three years old.
Vanille and Caramel are not here today, but I think I understand better now that if you take in ex-batts, you have to accept that it's best not to focus on the length of the walk, but on the here and now (some life lessons ). So I will give them some scrambled eggs and tuna and the last melons from the greenhouse, and be happy that four of them are with me now .

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Happy hatch day ladies. And good life lessons for us all.
Wonderful photos as always, and I love the video. Chickens running is always a cute and funny sight!

 

[ManueB]

Thank you both so much for the kind words!
Royalchick, these photos and the video are "old"- the video is from march 2020, be assured we wouldn't make the ex-batts run like that today, they aren't in such athletic shape anymore!

 

[ManueB]

I got a little scared yesterday. Turned out three year old ex-batts are not only less athletic, they also have a lesser capacity to digest an orgy- after eating the scrambled eggs, tuna, lentils, kale and buckwheat mix they all kind of passed out. They came back to their usual self after half an hour or so .

Putting Merle back up (I deleted the photo by accident correcting spelling mistakes).

 

[RoyalChick]

I got a little scared yesterday. Turned out three year old ex-batts are not only less athletic, they also have a lesser capacity to digest an orgy- after eating the scrambled eggs, tuna, lentils, kale and buckwheat mix they all kind of passed out. They came back to their usual self after half an hour or so .
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Love Merle up a tree.

 

[ManueB]

This afternoon we finally began preparing to cover the run.
We didn't do much as the next project of the day, making 7 kilos of quince paste, seemed to be of higher priority to my partner . We cut half of the tree in front as the branches were in the way, got it out and grinded, dug the three first holes and that was that.
Unfortunately because there are both the house water evacuations and the old irrigation canals in the ground we have very little possibility to dig so we will not be able to enlarge the run as I had hoped.
We got lots of curious looks and some "help". The earth we took out we are using to enlarge the way in front of the run, so that we can still go through with the track barrow. The chickens however had an other idea and kept digging through what I was piling up .

Some not so good things also happened. Théo threatened me this morning and he attacked my partner this afternoon, who sent him flying and gave him a real scare. He hadn't done that for quite some time now. Blanche wasn't doing too good today and yesterday. And, at one point in the day I saw Cannelle's face (between her eyes and nose) rising up and down like Caramel when she had trouble breathing. I didn't see it again and didn't hear anything when I listened to her breathing. She spent some time in the nest box yesterday and today... so I'm preparing myself that she may has EYP too.

Théo enjoys the sun. He's full of new coming in quilts and feathers, though they are quite hidden.

The chickens tried all kind of ways to spy on what was going on in the run

Only Brune and Blanche dared come inside

Good job they said.

 

[Perris]

Glorious photos as ever! That last one is crying out for a caption!

 

[BY Bob]

Three years "arbitrary hatch day".

When we got our six ex-batts Vanille, Blanche, Cannelle, Nougat, Caramel and Brune in January 2020, we weren't told how old they were. They started to lay on the 15 of march (all in the same week). Based on the assumption that they must have been around 5 months then, I decided randomly that the 15th of October would be considered their hatch day.

Three years old is a symbolic if slightly delusional milestone for me. When we got the ex-batts I knew nothing about chickens, high production breeds, the way ex-batts had been bred to lay an egg a day and the reproductive disorders this meant. We learnt this only a few weeks after Vanille started laying and began having serious troubles. I understood then that we wouldn't keep them for long and it became my goal to get them to three years old.
Vanille and Caramel are not here today, but I think I understand better now that if you take in ex-batts, you have to accept that it's best not to focus on the length of the walk, but on the here and now (some life lessons ). So I will give them some scrambled eggs and tuna and the last melons from the greenhouse, and be happy that four of them are with me now .

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What a wonderful thing you have done for them. They are truly lucky ladies!

 

[BY Bob]

I got a little scared yesterday. Turned out three year old ex-batts are not only less athletic, they also have a lesser capacity to digest an orgy- after eating the scrambled eggs, tuna, lentils, kale and buckwheat mix they all kind of passed out. They came back to their usual self after half an hour or so .
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Putting Merle back up (I deleted the photo by accident correcting spelling mistakes).
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If I eat like that now I too need an extended nap.

 

[BY Bob]

You have no idea how wonderful it is to know that I can come here and see beautiful chickens in beautiful landscapes. I come back frequently and relook at old photos. Thank you so much for sharing like this. It provides me with a place of peace and quiet on this website. I'm very grateful.

I also enjoy the stories of the chickens. Your experiences are fascinating and educational.

 

[ManueB]

Glorious photos as ever! That last one is crying out for a caption!

My partner has always had a special relationship with the ex-batts. He spends a quarter of the time I am with them, but they love and trust him way more. It maybe not natural, but I think he is their rooster of choice, even now that they have accepted Théo !

You have no idea how wonderful it is to know that I can come here and see beautiful chickens in beautiful landscapes. I come back frequently and relook at old photos. Thank you so much for sharing like this. It provides me with a place of peace and quiet on this website. I'm very grateful.

I also enjoy the stories of the chickens. Your experiences are fascinating and educational.

Thank you, I'm deeply touched by your comment. It's been three years since we moved here, but I still feel very lucky and grateful everyday to wake up to these landscapes. So maybe some of my wonder comes through the photos! Yes, I'm even grateful to my evil step-father for letting us live here ( I feel more grateful when he hasn't shown up in a while ).