Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[ManueB]

Most of my chickens are moulting. Ini mini isn't. She is the most active hen now (9½ years old). Flying on top of the run just for fun. Normally it's Janice who is champion in doing so. But she is still mounting and acts more slow than usual.
A heavy moult does influence their vitality.

Sorry I didn't get a picture.

This is Oscar (father of Janice) when he was a cockerel in 2019.
View attachment 3688761

Oscar looked like a funky little guy with all those colours !
Ini Mini is incredible . It's wonderful to have a senior chicken like her in your flock.

I don't know if it's related to the size, or to Bantam's feathers, or to the fact that they lay less, but my bantam Chipie also handles her molting really well. I just saw her less for a while. She molts very progressively one body piece at a time, and the wings and tail feathers had all been replaced by mid October. Whereas Nougat does it all at once !
I think it was Perris that cited Gail Daimerow , the chicken health handbook, about molting. I don't remember her exact point but she more or less says that good layers (which I suppose means frequent layers) tend to be hard molters, and that the speed at which primary feathers fall and regrow is correlated to the total duration of the molt. Nougat was a heavy layer, her eggs averaged 90-100 grams and she was still laying before her molt 4 to 5 times a week even though her shell were not of good quality most of the time the last year.
I wonder if there is indeed some correlation that we don't fully understand between molting and laying, (more than just the fact that the same type of nutritional ressources are needed). If that was the case, the fact that productions hens have been bred to lay more and not molt during their first two years may have had an impact on the way they molt later on. But having seen only my three ex-batts that made it over three years, is certainly not sufficient to build any theory .

Anyway, the morning was colder but with some sun it felt a lot nicer both for chickens and humans and Nougat seemed better than yesterday (which had been her worse day I think), at least her mobility seemed to have improved. But then the wind started blowing and the chickens sheltered under the laurel tree for most of the day. I realized today that the laurel tree has grown so much, the chicken yard is now in the shade from midday onward in late autumn and winter! We have to bring it down some.

The chickens only came out when the wind calmed down, toward three, and they went to roost early at 4.45. I keep wishing that they would get up and go to roost half an hour later because they are almost 45 mn offset from the sun. They are like me early riser and sleepers. This morning both Laure and Piou-piou wanted to lay very early, as they had a day off yesterday and they woke everyone else. Laure ended up not laying because her nest was constantly occupied and she is too scared to lay elsewhere.

At the end of the day Nougat came out a bit as she was walking much more normally. But I don't want to get excited because I know up often means down (and luckily sometimes it works the other way round).

Lilly’s feet are worrying us, because even though she has not been very mobile since they had a raptor scare, they are still terribly swollen. The more swollen one doesn't form a scab, so I can't pull it off with tweezers. I might order a small scalpel or we will take her back to the vet if it doesn't improve in ten days or so. As for the other foot, that is not swollen, it feels like there is a hard bump between two fingers, almost as if she had gotten something stuck in, but it really doesn't look like it as it's not swollen from underneath.
(On the other hand Nieva’s foot took three month to stop being swollen and the bumblefoot is still not really completely healed so maybe it's just very long for some chickens.)

 

[MaryJanet]

I'm relieved Nougat has improved! And I was thinking of Nieva's feet yesterday. I read it can take months for bumblefoot to clear up.

It can be exhausting when a chicken's health swings up and down. Janet is on another up swing. She's eating lots of bugs lately. Hoping Nougat continues to improve.

 

[Molpet]

feels like there is a hard bump between two fingers, almost as if she had gotten something stuck in, but it really doesn't look like it as it's not swollen from underneath.

There's a gland between the toes that gets plugged. I have read people who soak and pick it out. I have not done it.

 

[Perris]

I wonder if there is indeed some correlation that we don't fully understand between molting and laying, (more than just the fact that the same type of nutritional ressources are needed).

This link is oft stated in old handbooks but rarely is there any attempt to explain it. However I've recently been reading Leonard Robinson Modern Poultry Husbandry 1948 (which reports the situation a decade or so after battery cages were introduced, but commercial poultrymen were still making their own feeds from assorted assembled feedstuffs, so at the transition from what we now think of as 'traditional' practices to 'modern' ones) and he does offer such, though the explanation is still inadequate to my way of thinking:
"the season and duration of moulting are closely related to egg production... when production ceases or slows down nourishment is available for feather growth, and the bird moults. This explains why the late moulter is usually a good layer...[and] the moult is usually rapid. This is because the factors that ensure high production - constitutional vigour, ability to assimilate food efficiently, and sound management - also ensure rapid moulting" p. 96.

 

[ManueB]

It can be exhausting when a chicken's health swings up and down. Janet is on another up swing. She's eating lots of bugs lately. Hoping Nougat continues to improve.

I’ve certainly seen a lot of these ups and downs with my ex-batts. I can't count the times when I was certain one of them would die in the next days, and she pulled out of it.
I’m also happy to hear Janet is doing better, and enjoying some bugs. Chickens sure excel at making the most of the small things. It's nice to think that even just a little more life time can make them happy.
*************
It was very near freezing this morning, but it turned out to be a really beautiful day, and the sun was very warm.
It was the first day when the chickens seemed to be over the stress of whatever raptor they encountered the other day, and they all wanted to go out.

Nougat spent a lot more time outside and she definitely is doing better. I saw her walking normally about 50 % of the time. She is eating more. And now she is a tad less afraid, she is being absolutely horrible to the other chickens, grabbing and pulling anything that comes within her reach.

Merle laid an egg today ! The first in a loooong time . We will treasure the few eggs she lays before turning broody again ! It's wonderful to see her back to her usual self, full of pranks and shenanigans. She has been very subdued for the last two weeks. Now she's back to being little devil. She made a sprint attack on my partner's plate at lunchtime and grabbed quite a handful of pasta before either of us could react . We just thought ourselves lucky she didn't jump right in the plate as she sometimes does.

On the other hand, Léa is turning broody again . And this unfortunately means horrible interactions with some of the other hens. At roost time I was checking that Nougat was climbing up the roost to reach the nest without issue when I suddenly realised Léa was in the nest. Nougat grabbed her by a wing and pulled. And pulled. And pulled and wouldn't let go however much Léa tried to disengage herself. I thought they were both going to fall. Then Blanche joined in, pecking Léa on the head hard. At that point I grabbed Léa and took her to the roost where she has been sleeping alone these past few days, the one we pimped up for the younger pullets near the entrance.

Lilly also got a foot feather broken and Nieva pecked at it when she saw blood, so we had to clean it and we redid her dressings at the same time tonight. I was relieved to see that the swelling in between the toes has diminished. But her "bad" foot is certainly not making any progress.

Théo was very happy that Piou-piou and Merle decided to stay with him for lunch. Probably because they love pasta .

Cleaning up any left over from the scrambled eggs for the ex-batts.

Cannelle, Blanche and Nougat napped inside, but they spent most of the day oit.

Laure had an issue laying today. I mentioned that yesterday she had refrained from laying after having been chased off the nest. Today I found one of her egg just outside the coop in the morning and then she laid another one in a nest, and they had the shape and marks of eggs that have touched because one was withheld for too long.

Merle and Lilly. Both black chickens but very different in size and temper !

My partner who likes utterly stupid nicknames has been calling her tiny indian since she has that one feather left .

Still looking strange and ugly, but look how fast those feathers grow !

Annette is obsessed with digging up the baby leeks I planted .

Sometimes they stare so seriously at the scenery I have to wonder if they are enjoying it.

Mélisse.

And Lulu !

 

[MaryJanet]

Hmmm I wonder if Lilly's feet make her cross.

I guess it's important for survival to learn the scenery so that anything unusual, like a new fox's den or hawk nest, is more observable.

Do either of these ideas seem plausible?

 

[BDutch]

Today I found one of her egg just outside the coop in the morning and then she laid another one in a nest, and they had the shape and marks of eggs that have touched because one was withheld for too long

Poor Laure. I wonder how that egg looks like.

My partner who likes utterly stupid nicknames has been calling her tiny indian since she has that one feather left .

Sometimes they stare so seriously at the scenery I have to wonder if they are enjoying it.

Like MaryJanet I suspect they looking for cats, foxes, boars, or whatever goes around. Mine tend to inspect the surroundings like that sometimes. Chickens can look around without turning their heads.

 

[ManueB]

Hmmm I wonder if Lilly's feet make her cross.

I guess it's important for survival to learn the scenery so that anything unusual, like a new fox's den or hawk nest, is more observable.

Do either of these ideas seem plausible?

It's definitely possible that Lilly’s foot still hurts her. It's very uneasy to know how she’s doing because she has always had such a strange dreamy passive behaviour.
And it's also very possible that they are actually seeing something that I don't. There is a very steep slope under where they stay ; it's hard for the human eye to spot a bird flying under, whereas the hens would see it.

Poor Laure. I wonder how that egg looks like.

Yes, I feel sorry for her too. I was relieved today she laid normally, she switched nest.
I cooked both the eggs right away for the ex-batts because they were fragile, so I can't show you hers. Here is the same case from Vanille, for whom it was a very frequent issue, and much more extreme. You can see very well where the eggs were touching in the oviduct.

******************

It was very warm and sunny today and did not feel at all like an end of November day. Nougat is getting better every day, and she came out of the nest with no help from me today. She still acts somewhat frightened of Gaston though, but it's not as bad as it was.

Unfortunately as soon as she was out, Léa went in and showed that she was going to stay there all day. I’m beginning to know them (Merle and her) very well now. First they start staying longer on the nest. Then they begin making broody noises and poops. Merle starts dustbathing 20 times a day and pulling her feathers out of her belly (though now she doesn't need to, it's constantly naked ). For about a week to ten days they still lay, later and later in the day, and will come out of the nest if I take the egg out. Then it turns on full broody mode.
Since Léa weaned her chicks on the 26 of June, this is the third time she is getting broody. I have some hopes that when it finally gets colder, she will refrain for a few months !

All the chickens that can cross the netting went in the garden today and Gaston was also outside most of the day. I tried to protect the leeks but Annette and Mélisse kept finding ways to get in and digging them out. The first leeks survived the boar's, I hope these survive the chickens.

After lunch, at the time I usually give the ex-batts their scrambled eggs amélioré, I was late and Blanche came to the entrance of the chicken yard to ask loudly where was the food ! This made me really happy because she used to do this all the time, but she had completely lost her appetite these last months. It seems she may be enjoying getting special food again ! I guess I made my partner dig her last hole too soon.

Roost time was a bit chaotic. Gaston is staying on the right side, and apparently he only accepts some hens next to him : Nieva, Lilly, and Merle of course are allowed but he pecked off Nieva and Kara. Cannelle glues herself to Théo on the roost which is so strange as during the day she runs as far from him as she can as soon as she hears him. Blanche is now alone on the right side of the roost, except that Léa is trying to get in the nest that Nougat threw her out of. The youngest pullets still have difficulty finding a quiet place, especially Laure and Mélisse.

And meanwhile...
NGO may obtain a small step toward diminishing the number of caged commercial operations for layers in France.
How sad to have to go to the highest administrative court because Macron did not keep his electoral promise that all eggs would come from pastured eggs during his mandate.

 

[ManueB]

Oups sorry it seems I don't have sufficient network access, most of the pictures did not post correctly and a good piece of text lost.
I will edit tomorrow morning when the cell phone signal is better.

 

[BDutch]

It was very warm and sunny today and did not feel at all like an end of November day.

Here the weather was very strange. Much wind. Much colder than yesterday and we had short heavy showers, thunder, lightning and hail.

I never had such a strange wrinkled egg as on you picture.

I see the photos and don’t miss any.

Macron has his flaws, but he’s 100 times more acceptable than ’our’ Russian friend who’s party got most votes this election (about 25%). Wilders possibly becomes our new minister president. But it won’t be an easy proces to get there.

The second and third largest parties don’t want any commitment with this party. To form a government he needs > 50% of the votes for new laws/shifting taxes.

More tax (Kraai was wondering why I followed her)