Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[ManueB]

It didn't go as planned !
We drove Pied Beau to his new house , but he came back with us. When my partner saw the place where he was going to stay, he asked me "you're sure you want to leave him there?". I certainly would have left him if he hadn't spoken up, but once he asked, it was obvious the answer was no. The couple were nice old people and very happy to see our rooster. They had bought one of those premade run of about 8m2 and had not modified anything for security ; and the shelter to sleep was just four planks put together, about 80cm2 and 50 cm high, with a tiny hole to get in. No roost and no possibility to clean inside, no nest box, and the pullets were sleeping directly on the floor, right next to the river, so extremely damp.
They were very disappointed and we apologized, though of course when we tried to explain why it just made it worse.
We both would have felt bad leaving him there. A lot of people in France keep their chickens in very small coops, but this didn't seem either safe or healthy. It was probably one of the worse places I’ve seen.
So we are back were we started. I am glad for once for my partner's dubious nature. Though we don't know what to do with him now, whether to give him to Gaston, or try again to give him on the French Craigslist.

It rained all day today, so I only have a few photos, some from yesterday evening.

What do you think it is, Annette ?

Probably dead and doesn't look good to eat anyway.

Blanche had a cuddle while my partner protected her from Pied-Beau.

We stayed in the run almost all day.

Yes, I have mud shoes, and please leave me I have business up there.

Poor Théo trying to follow.

 

[MaryJanet]

That would've been a very awkward conversation, but I would've done the same.

 

[lightm]

I'm sure you're doing the right thing with Pied Beau, much as it pains you.

Agreed. Although I read that you still have him. It may be God's plan.

Every time you post I want to reply with comments on a pretty chicken - but then each picture has chickens more pretty than the previous one.
But, because we won't see him so much (maybe you will visit) I will say that I think Pied Beau is a really stunning looking bird.
The person taking him is very lucky to get him.

I completely agree.

What nonsense. You are a wonderful chicken tender - like all of us you worry and are on a learning curve - but you are a keen observer of them and you care about their well being. I think your chickens are lucky to have you to care for them.

Yep!

 

[BDutch]

sorry to hear the place was not okay.

If these people didn’t let the chickens free range, I understand you couldn’t leave him over there. I do hope the next ad on Craig’s list will appear to be better.

Probably dead and doesn't look good to eat anyway.

 

[Shadrach]

A different one. I have no clue what variety the four old ones are, they were planted a long time ago, my partner doesn't remember when so he must have been very young. We made a cutting from one of them and it has quinces for the first time this year.

Well, I didn't have the time today, but she laid the same egg as yesterday : smaller than usual and with no brown pigment, but with a normal shell.
Her poop has also gone back to what they used to be, which is not great, but no watery diarrhea anymore. I’m beginning to be cautiously optimistic!

Today was very grey and it drizzled all the afternoon. I couldn't watch the chickens because we are finally doing the last bit of fencing, the piece of steep land just above the gateway. It's where the goats break in .

I did see that Pied Beau had regally installed himself in the run with Lilly, scaring away all the other hens and Gaston who were outside getting wet . I didn't leave the coop open because of Léa. I am really beginning to think for some reason Gaston is scared of Pied Beau or really wants to avoid conflict, because when I brought their food at four he came to see and left when Pied Beau arrived and began eating.
On the other hand, in the morning when I took the pictures they were all hanging out together in their dustbathing area.

The woman we had contact with confirmed she still wants him, her grandfather hasn't got the hens yet but he expects to get them next week.
I’m not in a hurry to see him leave, but I don't like seeing my older ex-batts, Piou-piou and Chipie afraid, and thinking that maybe Gaston is not feeling safe.
He isn't such a bad guy, but he is really too big for our smaller hens.
I think Lilly will probably miss him because she was bottom of the adult hens, always being pecked on by the others and going alone outside, whereas now he follows her around everywhere , tidbits endlessly, and treats her like a princess.

Théo attacks both of them, and he seems to have decided the younger pullets belong to Gaston because he has totally stopped flirting with them and now chases them away, scaring them.

View attachment 3661641View attachment 3661643View attachment 3661645View attachment 3661651View attachment 3661652View attachment 3661653
Piou-piou wasn't doing great today. It's been a long time since I saw her taking an unwell attitude, I checked to see if any of her wounds had reopened but it wasn't the case, so it's probably something else.
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Lulu
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It's interesting that you have noted one rooster chasing away the hens of another rooster. I used to see a lot of that. You do have tribes in that case.

 

[Shadrach]

what do you do with your quinces? Make paste, or jelly, or something else?

Quince hot chutney in a sticky inside meringue.

 

[ManueB]

It's interesting that you have noted one rooster chasing away the hens of another rooster. I used to see a lot of that. You do have tribes in that case.

I’m not sure. Tribal is certainly the way Théo sees things, but I think most of the others don't.
Gaston acts as if all the hens are his, he welcomes them everytime, and now he never pecks them for having been with another rooster like Théo does. He is mostly tolerant when Pied Beau mates them. He is very aggressive with Théo though, I think that is because Théo was awfully aggressive with him ever since he was a month old.
Piou-piou and Merle have decided that Théo could hang out with them after months hating him, but I believe that's only because he comes with them in the garden, which Gaston can not do, watches for them, and escorts them to lay. They still see themselves as part of the main group though and they are on very good terms with Gaston. To me it seems like they chose a territory, the garden, and the rooster that was also exiled there finally got them to accept his presence by making himself useful ; but they don't seem to see themselves as a tribe or to think that Théo is their rooster. The same could be said of Lilly with Pied-Beau, she wanted to be in the garden, and accepted Pied-Beau because we let her stay there with him.
Pied-Beau, on the other hand, is always following Gaston around, although he is a bit afraid of him, like a scary bigger brother. It feels like he is trying to copy him, and act as a second. If it wasn't for Lilly, he would stay inside with Gaston and the bigger adult hens.
The only other chickens who seem to have tribal views are the ex-batts. They don't want any other rooster coming near them than Gaston, and are terrified of both Pied-Beau and Théo. It was the same when Gaston became dominant and they had to change rooster from Théo to Gaston, they were terrified of Gaston for about two months. It was especially hard for Brune who was near the end, as it is now for Blanche. I think they really saw themselves as a set tribe of six before we had a rooster, and that has made them much less flexible.
***********

Mélisse laid an egg in the wood shed this morning ! It's the first egg I find from the pullets, at five months and a week. It was on the small side, about the size of Léa’s eggs, beige with white sprinkle. So again, Gaston could smell who was going to lay, as she has been his favourite for the last two weeks. Now Annette should be next, if he is right!

This morning while I was running I came upon Gaston and his son Angelin, hunting the hare. (The hare hunter's job actually stops when the hunt begins. If he has properly trained his dog, once the dog finds the hare’s way, he must by all means sit and wait and not disturb the dog. They say here that the hare’s way is one of the most complicated to track for a dog because it is illogical and never straight, and a hunter who intervenes too much can spoil the dog forever for hunting hares.) So they were being good hunters patiently waiting, and because it was quite cold and they had been waiting for a long time, they were freezing . Anyway I explained to them what had happened with Pied Beau and asked if they were still willing to take him. They stopped by at our place to see him in the evening and of course they found him beautiful. First the chickens were afraid of Angelin, because he is huge both horizontally and vertically. But then he found and gave them some fresh walnuts, they are all falling off the tree with the rain, and he made good friends with Pied Beau, who even came down from his roost to hang out with us.
They already have four roosters, two are bantams, one is an auracana, and the last one is a small backyard mix, so he would be happy to have a big rooster. They cull all the roosters that are aggressive with the others males or with the hens, so all their roosters are calm. But while they have a lot of hens, for Pied Beau it will mean integrating a flock with many roosters. We said that if it doesn't work out well, we would take him back. We have some work to do there after my partner comes back from vacation so we will bring Pied-Beau then, around the 10th of november. Like I said, there are some things I really don't like about how they keep their chickens ; they are treated as livestock were in small holdings 40 years ago. But they are outside, they live on the farm with all the animals where they get opportunities to dig and forage, they get fed every day and in many ways I think they can have a pretty good life as long as they don't fall sick or get caught by predators.

I also talked a bit with Angelin about food. He buys separate grains in bulk, 100 kilos, and mixes them himself adding a small part of layer feed. Because they have about 40 chickens, and a number of other birds, they go through it in a reasonable time, and it's a lot cheaper than buying a 20 kilos premix like we do - a bit less than half the price ! Then they feed all their scraps. They don't question themselves if it's good or not, but most of what they eat is "real" food so even if getting scraps of hams, pork belly or stew is probably not extremely healthy for the chickens because of salt, I guess in small quantities it doesn't harm.
But, it's interesting that with this type of food, they have a few months with almost a total break from laying every year, from november to january, and whatever the type of hens- they have a few old hybrids from the local egg farm who sells them for cheap at 18 months, and leghorns, amongst mostly backyard mixes, and some bantams. Probably because they don't have the ideal ratio of proteins and calcium for egg production.

Pics from my run, the lambs and the highland cows.

Remember the broccoli that Petit blanc kept breaking into and eating all the leaves ? They survived ! We had the first pasta and broccoli today for lunch .

Little semi- broody devil.

Spoiler: scary exorcist version

Out of the nest and drinking rain water next to the gutter we are going to put on the chicken run, while my partner breaks walnuts for chickens. Sometimes life can be nice for the chickens des Sauches even if I tend to overemphasize all that's going wrong.

Handing out walnuts.

A tale of two roosters.

Pied beau and Lilly came to visit while we were finishing the last part of fencing.

Can you spot the four friends ?

Blanche.

Léa-2 tail feathers.

Every night Lulu chases Laure wildly and ends up driving her out of the coop. I suppose it's a kind of bullying. It is very strange as they are rather friends during the day. It is still difficult for Laure to find a place to roost, but she no longer uses the separate roost we put next to the window, where she and Annette used to go.

 

[BDutch]

But, it's interesting that with this type of food, they have a few months with almost a total break from laying every year, from november to january, and whatever the type of hens- they have a few old hybrids from the local egg farm who sells them for cheap at 18 months, and leghorns, amongst mostly backyard mixes, and some bantams. Probably because they don't have the ideal ratio of proteins and calcium for egg production.

I doubt that the feed has so much influence. I would think its mainly the combination of winter and gettin older.

Pics from my run, the lambs and the highland cows.

Is that a photo from last spring?

Spoiler: scary exorcist version

A tale of two roosters.

Or.. Two tails of two roosters.

Sometimes life can be nice for the chickens des Sauches

YES!

 

[ManueB]

Three things happened today concerning the chickens.
1. We added the gutter to the run. It's raining tonight, so we will see if it helps keeping the whole run dry. We had an issue with water coming underneath the roof half the width.
2. A second pullet laid a tiny egg, in the woodshed, but I don't know who it was ! It was smaller and not as well formed as Mélisse’s first egg. I know that it's not always significant of how a hen will lay.
3. Laure sounded alarm in the garden next to the Jerusalem artichokes. She stopped and left, and because she is always afraid of everything we didn't check.Then Mélisse did the same. I went to look and found part of an animal remains, mostly the legs and a bit of belly. It looked like a rabbit or a hare.

Spoiler: Picture of the legs the chickens found

The mystery is that we don't understand what could have brought this half here, and buried it in our garden. Maybe a fox tracked it and they both managed to cross the property 's fence where the boar has dug ? But it was carried over and buried, and the rest of the body wasn't near by. Unfortunately Pied Beau and his gang had spent a good time there that morning, so if it was already there they certainly ate a bit of it.
I actually took a picture of them from above and I can't see the dead thing on it, but it's a bit far. Or maybe they dug it out after I took the picture.

Pied Beau and my partner discussing where to fix the gutter.

Merle sat on the nest this morning but when I took her egg she came out on her own.

Blanche looked terrible waking up, then she was a bit better, then in the afternoon she went down again.

Lulu and Laure hang out together. Do chickens have stockholm syndrome ?

Mélisse.

Annette.

Théo is molting. Pin feathers under...

And keratin sheaths all over the mane .

Lulu

Kara didn't lay today though she spent time in the nest. Hope it's not a stuck egg again. She did not look unwell but she did have a slight penguin stance tonight.

I’m not sure how he managed to climb up there as it's only for the smaller chickens and he wasn't sure how to get out.

 

[ManueB]

Today was a beautiful day, until half past three when the wind started blowing and turned into something crazy. We have been relatively spared this summer, but we usually have a lot of really bad wind in the afternoon.

But the first part of the day was wonderful and sunny. The most adventurous chickens dustbathed outside though it is still wet, and almost all of them enjoyed the sun. Cannelle is unwell since yesterday, so she stayed with Blanche most of the time under the laurel tree, but they did come out a bit in the morning to forage. I’m not sure if it's molting or something else ; last year she was really doing poorly throughout her molt and I kept thinking she was going to die, but she ended up fine with beautiful new feathers. Also I noticed she is getting poopy butt again. It's going to be very difficult to clean her ; last time I managed, but she wasn't molting, and I had to hold her in a towel. I cleaned Lilly and Kara today but I didn't feel up to doing Cannelle. Maybe Sunday my partner can help me.

Since yesterday also, Gaston is beginning to be more stern with Pied-Beau, who is been totally boorish trying to tread every hen around right under Gaston's eye. Well, he has to learn some manners, and it will do him good to get chased off a bit. The younger hens aren't really afraid of him, just annoyed, but apart from the ex-batts, Chipie and of course Piou-piou and Merle really fear him. And for the ex-batts, life has become hell whenever he is around ; they are utterly terrified, even when he does nothing. Cannelle who didn't really care up to now is also acting scared, probably because she doesn't feel well enough to run away from him.

The wind was so bad that I was afraid for the chickens and brought the more fragile in the run. I was hoping they would go to roost early, but it was a bit hectic as all three roosters were around at the same time. Usually it works out and I help them a bit if Théo goes to roost much earlier while Gaston isn't watching, then Pied Beau, and Gaston last. But they were all scared of the wind, and wanting to shelter so it was more complicated. Then the younger pullets had zoomies for a while longer and Annette decided to roost on her own. And Merle tried to go back to the old barn to sit on her nest, but I had locked it because of the wind, so she came back to the coop .

Cannelle and Blanche came out a bit in the morning

Annette

Since we finished the fencing it's possible now to go all the way around behind the old houses. Annette was the first to try it out.

Kara laid normally this morning ! Well, not back to the eggs she laid before her problem but not egg bound or softshell.

Pied-Beau and Gaston bathed close to each other !

Léa. She is acting very tired from the molt.

Blanche pretending to dust bathe between Nieva and Alba.

Pied-Beau making broody Merle nervous.

Mélisse spent some time with Théo's team even though they all drive her away whenever she comes too close.

Blanche