Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[MaryJanet]

Arggg . A sparrowhawk hawk got to Blanche. She'll survive I think. And now it turns out Merle is brooding under her Wood stack. I knew I hated Christmas.

So sorry about Blanche is she injured?

 

[RoyalChick]

Oh dear. I am guessing yes, broody.

 

[ManueB]

So sorry about Blanche is she injured?

She had several bloody pecks on eyelids and ears, it's a hawk that will eat the brain out, but they all looked superficial to me. There was a huge feather pile where he got her, so she must have struggled, but it lasted less than a minute. She was in a state of total shock and disorientation however and since she has a number of issues that is what worries me for her.

This happened in a few minutes, I was having lunch outside and had just gone in the house to get an apple. I heard the noise and ran outside screaming in slippers- the hawk had her under the laurel tree and didn't let go until I actually got there and shaked the branches.
I was on my own and a bit afraid the hawk would came back while I was tending to her. First I just put her in the bathroom on a stack of towel while accounting for all the other chickens. Then I wrapped her up in a towel and tried to clean and put betadine on the wounds, she struggled so I did the best I could and saw they looked like minor pecks. Then she tested in the pet carrier for an hour and a half in a state of semi consciousness. After that she ate an egg and drank. Then she got stressed out and restless from being closed up so I brought her back to the coop where she immediately went to hide in one of the lower nest. She stayed there until roost time and ate a bit of layer feed I gave her before going to sleep.
We'll see how she does today. I'm hopeful.

.

Sounds broody to me! Looks like she has a cozy spot for her nest, but might be hard to get her out of there if you want/need to.

Are you going to let her sit?

Oh no no no no NOO!!!!

-She only laid her first egg on the 28 of November and she is only six months and a half
- Although it's been abnormally warm it's winter and we should get temperatures below freezing until early May. I'm not set up for and I don't want to raise chicks inside.
- we already have problems getting everyone to accept to roost in the same coop and the new coop will certainly not be built in three weeks!
- And indeed I couldn't reach her where she was. It's actually a tunnel my partner made for the cats to go through, I had to use a stick to get her out by pushing her away from the other exit and I blocked the nest. She wasn't happy, but she finally went to roost in the coop.

I shouldn't be surprised, I mentioned on Shadrach's thread that these bantams are raised here by the farmers especially to brood, but since she's been acting weird for almost two weeks, it means she had the instinct to brood just two weeks after beginning to lay! I didn't know it could happen so fast.
Depending on how things go maybe we can get her to set this summer.

 

[Perris]

for Blanche and for you.
I've had birds get over losing chunks of skin and teeth puncture wounds from a fox, so I'd be optimistic for her recovery.

 

[ManueB]

The update on Blanche is rather good. She was up on her own from the nest, which unfortunately meant Gaston had a jump on her for a few seconds before I could catch her. Then she ate a lot in the morning, she's not very mobile and has moments when she looks to be in pain but she's definitely alive and surviving.

We stayed glued to the chickens today, taking turns with my partner so we could rest from yesterday's late and excessive eating and drinking. Good idea because not only did we see yesterday's hawk checking from above, but also an eagle flew very low through the garden and the chicken's yard, it's the first time I see one flying that close. It was rather impressive. The chickens are not too shocked this time, much less than when we had the attack last year, probably because I could chase the hawk away much faster. They all went out at some point, even Blanche. Gastounet's gang actually hung around all over the place- we had another warm and lovely day!

And little Merle is obviously still inclining on brooding. She eats and drinks normally but she tried to get in her nest all day (and actually managed to pull down some of the smaller logs I blocked it with!). She screams and dustbathes in excess. She wrecked havoc at roost time because she didn't want to go and stay in the coop- she was trying to go back to her nest. For once I let my partner handle it .I'm not sure if I should do something more than blocking her nest, as she is eating and moving around. I'll probably ask again in a few days depending on how she evolves.

Tomorrow it's Christmas at my parent's place so we're locking all the chickens up for the day, Théo's team in the coop and run, and Gaston's in the barn. Let's hope they won't be too stressed out.

Blanche today. I was afraid Théo would be rough with her but after a while he seemed to understand that she wasn't well.

Merle...

And the others

 

[MaryJanet]

Merle's youth and good health set her up well for sitting, she might recover faster than older hen would. My neighbours have kept hens for a few decades and they told me not to worry when a hen wants to sit, just remove her eggs every day and keep an eye on her to make sure she's eating, drinking and bathing every now and then. Brooding hens don't need their usual quantities of food because they're not using as much energy as they normally would. Even so, I still prefer to discourage sitting once a hen has sat for more than three weeks. I have found placing her on the roost at night is a reliable method, even if it has to be repeated for a few nights in a row.

On the other hand, on byc there's a lot of anxiety about letting hens sit and people prefer to break them. I've read posts in which people worry about hens losing condition and maybe there's something in that. But I still don't worry about it too much because it's natural for a hen to sit (and I'm someone who rushes sick hens to the vet).

That's great news about Blanche! She's a lucky hen.

 

[ManueB]

Merle's youth and good health set her up well for sitting, she might recover faster than older hen would. My neighbours have kept hens for a few decades and they told me not to worry when a hen wants to sit, just remove her eggs every day and keep an eye on her to make sure she's eating, drinking and bathing every now and then. Brooding hens don't need their usual quantities of food because they're not using as much energy as they normally would. Even so, I still prefer to discourage sitting once a hen has sat for more than three weeks. I have found placing her on the roost at night is a reliable method, even if it has to be repeated for a few nights in a row.

On the other hand, on byc there's a lot of anxiety about letting hens sit and people prefer to break them. I've read posts in which people worry about hens losing condition and maybe there's something in that. But I still don't worry about it too much because it's natural for a hen to sit (and I'm someone who rushes sick hens to the vet).

That's great news about Blanche! She's a lucky hen.

Well, things have evolved. We're going to have to let her sit.

Nothing went as planned today. We needed to get Gaston's team locked in the barn for the day to go for Christmas at my parent's. They refused to come with us. My partner got upset after a while and started screaming and that was the end of it. They were terrified and running over all around the place however much sunflowers, walnuts and apples we handed for them. After an hour and a half, I managed to catch Merle and Léa and take them up there. He brought Piou-piou driving her with a stick. We left Gaston outside thinking he was big enough to fare on his own. Everyone was in a panic and we were both really upset at the chickens and at each other.
We came back at four, so half an hour before roost time, and I found only Léa in the barn. Merle and Piou-piou had managed to escape!
Turns out there was a hole on the floor hidden by hay that led to a room on the first floor that has open windows. Piou-piou was with Gastounet and Merle was nowhere to be seen.
After we got the other chickens to roost and looking around her old nest we finally found her hidden far under the woodshed. My partner managed to get her out and take her in the coop. She had no eggs under her. But we can't have her staying underneath pallets and logs in places we can't reach her but where a rat or a fox could.
So I'm going to try to put her in the first nest she had made tomorrow with an egg, but make it more shallow so I can reach her. We will be able to block that nest for the night, from foxes at least, and let her for three weeks in there. My partner started saying he wants chicks but I don't want to hear about it as long as we haven't sorted their housing situation. I think we're going to divorce over the chickens .

 

[RoyalChick]

Well, things have evolved. We're going to have to let her sit.

Nothing went as planned today. We needed to get Gaston's team locked in the barn for the day to go for Christmas at my parent's. They refused to come with us. My partner got upset after a while and started screaming and that was the end of it. They were terrified and running over all around the place however much sunflowers, walnuts and apples we handed for them. After an hour and a half, I managed to catch Merle and Léa and take them up there. He brought Piou-piou driving her with a stick. We left Gaston outside thinking he was big enough to fare on his own. Everyone was in a panic and we were both really upset at the chickens and at each other.
We came back at four, so half an hour before roost time, and I found only Léa in the barn. Merle and Piou-piou had managed to escape!
Turns out there was a hole on the floor hidden by hay that led to a room on the first floor that has open windows. Piou-piou was with Gastounet and Merle was nowhere to be seen.
After we got the other chickens to roost and looking around her old nest we finally found her hidden far under the woodshed. My partner managed to get her out and take her in the coop. She had no eggs under her. But we can't have her staying underneath pallets and logs in places we can't reach her but where a rat or a fox could.
So I'm going to try to put her in the first nest she had made tomorrow with an egg, but make it more shallow so I can reach her. We will be able to block that nest for the night, from foxes at least, and let her for three weeks in there. My partner started saying he wants chicks but I don't want to hear about it as long as we haven't sorted their housing situation. I think we're going to divorce over the chickens .

Oh no!
You two need to settle your approach to the chickens. To me you are living some kind of dream life that I am too old to achieve for myself. Don't worry, I am very happy with my own life, but I live this second dream life through your posts.
I don't think I could cope with you two separating over this!
Think of me like your child, and I am guessing there are others who feel this way, so go figure it out for the sake of your children!
Just kidding. Well sort of. It does upset me when I know you two are fighting rather than loving your life with such beautiful chickens (and old farm house, and mountains, and garden, and, and, and).

 

[ManueB]

It does upset me when I know you two are fighting rather than loving your life with such beautiful chickens (and old farm house, and mountains, and garden, and, and, and).

Oh no, don't worry, I meant this as a joke ! We did shout at each other, but I think it was more because my partner, just like me, hates doing Christmas at his inlaws. And yes, it always astounds me that even in my dream life, I can get upset and angry at silly things ...but that's human nature, or mine, I guess !

I'm not forgetting that even though it was my partner's choice to get chickens, he wanted hens only. Both roosters have been imposed by me and I understand he gets angry as having two of them causes a lot of troubles. That said, I am afraid the way he wants to build the second coop is becoming a huge project when I thought simpler would be better... and I can foresee that it will take a lot of time and we will have some other epic fights about it . We need to live up to the chicken drama !
******
Today after a good night sleep we weren't so upset anymore. I re-opened Merle's original nest but she didn't go in it. She spent all morning outside eating and scratching, but still making those hysterical broody noises. In the afternoon she did go in her nest (with no egg) for maybe three hours, however she came out to eat sunflower seeds and decided on her own to roost in the coop.

This is the first time I'm confronted to having a broody without wanting to hatch as my ex-batts never ever went broody. I thought it was a white and black thing (broody/not broody) but obviously in her case she's somewhere in between - not gone back to normal, but definitely not fully broody either. Maybe like @MaryJanet said taking her to roost in the coop will be sufficient to stop her. We'll see how it goes- if it's possible to get her back to a fully non-broody state without having to let her sit for three weeks I would prefer that.

Blanche's pecks are healing nicely but she still seems to be slow and sometimes in pain. I'm wondering if she doesn't have slightly impaired vision- it looks as if she's stumbling or hitting things every now and then though her eyes look normal. Like Brune when she was attacked, she's also enjoying cuddles which is not at all like her normal self, usually we can't hold her for even a second, and this afternoon she fell asleep on my partner's lap with her head against his chest.

The day was again really warm and sunny and the chickens spent a long time lying around in the sun and dustbathing. Even though Theo's team spent at least half of the day inside the run they seemed to enjoy themselves.

Only Cannelle and Léa laid today.

Blanche

Merle

 

[ManueB]

This morning at 6.30 I heard chaos coming from the coop, an hour before the time they get up. There was so much noise I went down to check what was going on. Piou-piou and Cannelle were both on the floor in front of the entrance screaming,quarrelling and trying to get out. Merle was on the floor under the roost not moving. Blanche was also on the floor. Gaston was trying to get down using the ladder on which the ex-batts roost to get to Piou-piou, causing everyone to panic. And all this in total darkness. I let Piou-piou and Cannelle out of the coop, Cannelle ran in the run to lay in the pet carrier and Piou-piou ran in the dark up to the barn to lay. So I ran behind her with my flashlight . She was very afraid but she settled down to lay. As soon as it stopped being completely dark I let the other chickens out and Gastounet's team directly joined Piou-piou in the barn.
I can't believe two days ago we spent an hour and a half trying to get them up there to no avail .

Other than that craziness at dawn the day was rather calm. It was colder this morning, -2 / 28, and this clearly makes a difference in the chickens attitude, they stayed huddled up in the coop for Theo's team and under the laurel tree for Gaston's girls. When I saw that the ex-batts had no intention of coming out I locked the run to let Gastounet stay inside the netting with his girls without getting chased by Théo. It got warmer at noon and they came out and had a nice afternoon picking what little grass is left.
Merle didn't go at all in her nest and acted very normally except for screaming and puffing up every now and then. I think she will be over it.

Blanche isn't healing as well as I hoped. Her superficial pecks are completely closed up nicely, but she still seems in pain and I noticed she makes a noise when she breathes. Also she is molting and I think it's induced from the stress she had.

Dawn

Blanche

Gastounet was very interested by the lizard Hibou was playing with but he did not dare take it from her.

His team woke up Grochatila.