Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[BDutch]

It has rained so much the last month that our coop's back wall, that is buried two levels underground, is leaking and completely soaked . Unfortunately the roosts are very close to that wall so the chickens sleep in a damp place. Solving the problem would require quite a bit of work, but I think as a palliative measure we are finally going to change the roosts next week and bring them closer to the door and the ventilation.

Good that you get some rain for the garden. Isn’t it possible to repair the roof?

The chicks are growing bigger every day and poor Léa really has trouble holding them together. On the other hand, she is just awful with the other chickens, especially Piou-piou. Twice today I was holding Piou-piou in my arms and she attacked me.

I suppose we never will fully understand such weird behaviour. Dounds a bit like my Janice who will always attack me if I hold a chick.

Piou-piou was not well again, and didn't lay. Still wondering if it's related.

Its normal that a sick chicken won’t lay as far as I know.

There was some drama at roost time again. Gaston had Alba on his left and Merle on his right. Nueva didn't want to go too close to Merle, so she stood right in the middle of the roost, on top of the ladder. Normally the ex-batts are on the right of the ladder, but the two black giggles, Kara and Lily, took their place. Three of the ex-batts let it go, and accepted to roost below, but Nougat was crazy. This is her place. She kept pecking at the one next to her (Lily I think) and pulling off feathers and trying to throw her off the roost. The two black chickens were stuck against the wall to the far right and trying to hide in the nest hole that is there, but they are too big to manage it. They just crouched backward and endured the beating. It was still going on when I closed the coop .

Can you make something (on another spot) for the black chickens to roost where the others won’t see them. That worked for my Janice wenn she was bullied as a young pullet.

I posted on the fluffy butt acre thread here detailed photos of all the chicks asking for eventual ID, not reposting those here.

Did you get any answers?
That tread is quite impossible to follow with so many questions and responses.
I’m wondering about my chicks too. Some days I think I really have way too much cockerels and on other days I doubt it because most combs look very pale.

This morning after breakfast I found the chicks, Léa, Merle and Cannelle tearing bloody bits of a mouse apart and a very unhappy Grochatila watching them despondently . My guess is they stole it from him.

Would have liked to see how your Grotchatila was looking.

…

Thanks for all the wonderfull photo’s + comments again.

 

[ManueB]

Good that you get some rain for the garden. Isn’t it possible to repair the roof?

The roof isn't the problem. The coop is a ceiling. Because of the steep slope, the house has two levels buried on one side : above the coop is our kitchen that is also buried, and above the kitchen our bedroom is on floor level behind the house. The kitchen's wall doesn't leak, so it's more like water infiltrated the ground quite deep. We would have to break all the cement stairs behind the house, on the bedroom's level, to make a french drain, and then rebuild them again. It's a lot of work for something that happens once in three years.

Its normal that a sick chicken won’t lay as far as I know.

She lays every second day.
My ex-batts have often kept laying when they were sick, unfortunately, because they use precious ressources to make an egg instead of using them for healing.

Can you make something (on another spot) for the black chickens to roost where the others won’t see them. That worked for my Janice wenn she was bullied as a young pullet.

There is a free roost almost hidden from sight, at the entrance of the coop. It's the one we tried to get them to roost on. But they all want to roost in the same place. It was the same when Chipie was bullied, we tried to get her to use this roost and she wanted to stay with the other chickens. I don't think there is something wrong with this roost, because Théo and Chipie used it for months before Chipie went broody ; I really think there is some kind of social reason for wanting to huddle together even with chickens who hate your guts.

Did you get any answers?
That tread is quite impossible to follow with so many questions and responses.
I’m wondering about my chicks too. Some days I think I really have way too much cockerels and on other days I doubt it because most combs look very pale.

Most people said I need to wait! The two chicks I'm pretty sure are cockerels, one agreed with the black one, and someone else with the yellow one.
I was also told to look for early wattles rather than combs !

 

[Perris]

I was also told to look for early wattles rather than combs

that would be my advice too; has been a true indicator here

 

[ManueB]

Catching up from yesterday. The chicks are molting hard. Three of them have completely bald spots under their neck and red skin under- hope that's normal and not some kind of rash ! I took another tiny tick off Lea's cheek, she raised hell. Holding her still I noticed she is extremely thin , it doesn't show under all her fluff. I gave them some scrambled eggs and oats and semolina today hoping Léa would eat some but she left it all to the chicks, even though there was a lot. Any advice on getting the broody to eat ?

Not chicken related : Yesterday evening we were invited at Gaston for dinner (the old farmer who gave us Chipie, Théo, and the eggs for Chipie's clutch). There was also Max, the 30 something guy who has taken up Gaston's sheep herd last year. He just had had his first wolf attack that afternoon in the wood, and about half an hour later a goat that gave birth to two kids perched on rocks up that he had to go collect . He was exhausted and freaked out from his day. He had no damage thanks to the LGD's, that were running all over the place before he had even seen the wolves. Those dogs are a real problem for hikers and runners but they do their job when the sheeps are threatened. He says it's been very hard with the thunderstorms every two days, the ewes freeze and refuse to move, and when it's his girlfriend that keeps it's even worse because the herding dogs don't obey her.
Not an easy job... but he chose it and seems happy still.

Blanche has found some mojo back ! Enough to bully the black chickens

This is Cannelle's escape route from the chicken's net enclosed yard. Théo is always very angry when she leaves.

Lily

Alba the terror. We're lucky Alba's comb flops to the left and Nueva to the right otherwise we'd have trouble telling them apart.

Every day Nougat throws broody Chipie out of her nest to lay. She takes the opportunity to dustbathe and eventually eat.

Chick's porridge. What they call the Fugly stage has officially begun.

Piou-piou for lunch. Another example of a hen that used to hate humans before she was wounded and we kept her crated and had to tend her very often.

 

[Perris]

Holding her still I noticed she is extremely thin , it doesn't show under all her fluff. I gave them some scrambled eggs and oats and semolina today hoping Léa would eat some but she left it all to the chicks, even though there was a lot. Any advice on getting the broody to eat ?

I'd offer fish or meat or live insects, as many as she can eat. It doesn't matter if she feeds it to the chicks first; they'll stop when their crops are full, and if you provide enough, she can eat her fill too while they're digesting.

Blanche has found some mojo back !

yay!

We're lucky Alba's comb flops to the left and Nueva to the right otherwise we'd have trouble telling them apart.

same here with Paprika and Polka!

Piou-piou

 

[BDutch]

^^^ ditto that.

Chick's porridge. What they call the Fugly stage has officially begun.

And please explain this. It’s not in my vocabulary. Feed for body builders?

 

[RoyalChick]

^^^ ditto that.


And please explain this. It’s not in my vocabulary. Feed for body builders?

Funny, ugly = fugly.
When all their down is coming out and they are not yet fully feathered. Sometimes they have bald patches.

 

[BDutch]

Funny, ugly = fugly.
When all their down is coming out and they are not yet fully feathered. Sometimes they have bald patches.

Thanks. I didn’t know chicks could have bold patches. My bantam chicks never had them and always feathered quickly.

 

[RoyalChick]

Thanks. I didn’t know chicks could have bold patches. My bantam chicks never had them and always feathered quickly.

Here is my Sylvie in her fugly stage and now at about 7 weeks not fugly at all!

 

[ManueB]

Thanks. I didn’t know chicks could have bold patches. My bantam chicks never had them and always feathered quickly.

I also noticed the difference. The bantams feathers are very different in quality, even for adults chickens.

Here is my Sylvie in her fugly stage and now at about 7 weeks not fugly at all!

View attachment 3534843View attachment 3534844

How pretty she has turned out. Makes me think of porcelain .