Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[Perris]

Looks lovely.

The plants seem to like it!

I'm really fed up with the cool wet weather but most of the garden looks a lot better than it did in June with no rain. I've been working on IDing the wild plants in the garden, and I'm amazed how much there is. And now the fungi are popping up fruiting bodies which are really hard to ID with any confidence.

 

[MaryJanet]

View attachment 3598949
This was yesterday - beginning of August. It looks like that in January. At this time of year it's supposed to be a dry stream bed.

So pretty and luscious!

 

[RoyalChick]

View attachment 3598949
This was yesterday - beginning of August. It looks like that in January. At this time of year it's supposed to be a dry stream bed.

Lovely. Do the chickens hang out near (or even in) the stream?
There is a regular on one of the other threads whose chickens go fishing for minnows in the creek on their property.

 

[Perris]

Lovely. Do the chickens hang out near (or even in) the stream?
There is a regular on one of the other threads whose chickens go fishing for minnows in the creek on their property.

They spend a lot of time in that ditch normally in summer, rummaging around the damp shady soil for edibles, or round the edges when it pools in spring and autumn. But there are no fish as it's only a seasonal stream - good for amphibians and reptiles though, like the local toads and suchlike.

 

[ManueB]

We have a thunderstorm! And it's been raining for ten minutes now !
Last rain was the 29 of June.

 

[ManueB]

It didn't last long enough but we did get 45 mn rain, better than nothing.
Everyone was very excited when the temperatures dropped to 12/ 53 and the grass was wet !
Chicken romance of the day : Théo is officially courting Merle. He spent two hours walking around with her this morning looking for every possible nest in the most unlikely places he had never been to. She was making laying noise even though I know she wasn't going to lay since she had laid at four yesterday afternoon. Could she be scheming for some future broody scheme ?
And I saw Pied Beau attempt to mate Piou-piou! Needless to say it was an epic fail and he was quickly put back in place .

Théo standing guard for Merle

These two hate each other but they had the same timing

The chicks in the walnut tree! That is a first.

 

[ManueB]

This morning was really cool, 10/50. The chickens took their time to come out of the coop, they were surprised too! Now it's 30/86 but it doesn't feel too warm.
Apart from today, the early birds are now coming out at 6.10, and the chicks who sleep the latest go to roost at 8.30. This works great for me, I get up around 5.30, and we can have dinner toward 8, 8.30 when we have finished watering and be in bed by 9.30.

The chickens were very happy that the soil was still wet and they foraged most morning. We moved the netting again to stop them from getting in the garden too easily. There was quite a bit of laying antics. Cannelle decided she had to lay in the barn, but she didn't know how to get out anymore. Merle acted full drama, first escorted by Théo, who got tired after an hour, then by Gaston, who showed her a bazillion places. She had chosen the worse place ever. In the wood shed the pile of wood on the side of the stone wall is about 2meters high and 1 meter wide, and behind it we have left a space so that it doesn't get soaked by water leaking from the stone wall when it rains. Well, she had flown on top of the roof stack and down that space, which is utterly inaccessible for us. I was beginning to imagine the worse scenarios- she will lay a stack of egg and she will sit there and the chicks won't be able to get out and die of hunger. I tried luring her out with the best treats and she didn't come. So I left her there thinking maybe my partner could reach her from over the stack with a long stick. And when we came back, she was no longer there- she was back in the most frequented nest at this time, in the coop.

And finally, Léa who had looked a bit tired all day, gave me a scare pushing out what looked like a huge prolapse and was in fact her second egg of the day, with a soft shell. I ran to get surgical gloves and coconut oil inside and when I came out the egg was out and all her insides back in. It's her first laying problem, and she is looking not too good. Well, let's hope it's not the beginning of serious reproductive troubles. Since Nougat also had troubles I'm going to increase calcium intake.

First corn from the garden

Nougat

Joined by Blanche. Good thing she enjoyed a little sun because she had a real bad day. I think she's beginning to let go.

Cannelle's flat egg in the barn.

In the afternoon, Merle forgot all her broody drama.

It went well for the two rooms until it didn't. There was some bad chasing tonight because Théo kept trying to mate the hens under Gaston's nose, heuh, beak.

Léa before roosting. She ate a bit and a lot of crushed eggshells but she still has that penguin stance on the roost. I had to carry her which she hated.

 

[ManueB]

Léa laid another sof shell egg through the night ! No wonder she looked bad. When I opened the coop, she stayed on the roost for about twenty minutes, but when she came down she acted like she was much better. She actually went back to the nest box, I was scared she would lay a fourth egg in 24 h, but she did not. As far as I can tell she looks fine now. She is digging around like crazy in the garden and chasing the chicks off. I picked her up during the day to check for parasites (she hates it so much that she doesn't get checked as regularly as the others) and she didn't have any, but she is very distinctly beginning to molt. So is Merle.

A not so great new is that I saw live tapeworm segments again in poops from at least two chickens, Piou-piou, and I don't know who was the other. They have been dewormed not even three months ago. I will wait to see how the chickens are, and if I see more of those, before deworming again. It's just too soon, I can't deworm them every three months, especially as we have only Flubendazole and no other option here.

Blanche’s state is deteriorating again. She spends most of the time standing unmoving with her eye closed. I just hope she hangs on a bit (or gets better, who knows with her!) as my partner is away for three days on a trekking get away. She can't leave while he’s gone !

And some good news, the baby vine we planted outside the chicken run seems to be thriving, at least for now !

Best frenemies.

What's that ?

Ants! Yummy!

Léa having fun in the garden

Léa

Théo is still weary when he sees my hand but at least he doesn't attack it anymore. He knows that while I could try to catch him, I could also just give him a treat.

 

[lightm]

Out of the blue, my dad turned out to be a mathematical genius in his very narrow field of non-euclidean geometrical algebra that about 200 people in the world understand, and he made a very good academic career.

I apologize for commenting on a post from almost a month ago. I am slowly catching up, although I did quickly see a recent post to find out Cannelle is still with us.

Spoiler: something about me

This got me all excited! France has too many brilliant mathematicians! So I also do mathematics for a living. A big reason I like mathematics is that I only need paper and pencil! I know non-euclidean geometry but I have no clue what is non-euclidean geometric algebra. I think useless mathematics should exist, but only in top-notch universities. I can be called an applied harmonic analyst and nowadays my community likes to be connected with all the evil machine learning and artificial intelligence stuff, for the sake of funding.

 

[MaryJanet]

I apologize for commenting on a post from almost a month ago. I am slowly catching up, although I did quickly see a recent post to find out Cannelle is still with us.

Spoiler: something about me

This got me all excited! France has too many brilliant mathematicians! So I also do mathematics for a living. A big reason I like mathematics is that I only need paper and pencil! I know non-euclidean geometry but I have no clue what is non-euclidean geometric algebra. I think useless mathematics should exist, but only in top-notch universities. I can be called an applied harmonic analyst and nowadays my community likes to be connected with all the evil machine learning and artificial intelligence stuff, for the sake of funding.

Thinking that can't yet be applied belongs in the universities, regardless of the field. Industry isn't interested because it can't return investment yet. But blue sky research lays the footsteps that become footpaths, that become bumpy tracks, that become paved roads, that eventually become smooth highways that support humanity. If universities don't lay the footsteps, no one else can follow.

I feel like my high horse comment needs something to keep it on the ground.