Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[Shadrach]

This makes me wonder. What do you need to do, or not to do, to loose a badge?
Or should I say: to be or not to be?

There is a point system for being naughty. I collected a few.
Get enough points and one gets banned. I would assume the removal of badges works on the same principle.
I should point out that from what I've seen the points system for bad behaviour is fair given the nature of the site.

 

[ManueB]

will you let Merle sit this year?

Just on Merles mind? or do you have any plans for babies too this year?

No, we don't plan to let her hatch babies this year.
We are tempted to, because her offspring with Théo would certainly make interesting big bantams chickens, both in looks and temper. But we have enough chickens for now. And I would prefer to know what we'll do with the boys before we let a hen hatch again.

No need. They don’t take it away after you got the badge. But we like to see your contributions in the future too of course.

I never even thought that was possible !
It's just that I found this site helpful when I first encountered health and behaviour issues, and I don't feel like I'm paying back.
*********

We finished working on the run ! It's ugly but it's safe !
Lilly laid an egg after a week off but it didn't look good . I've emailed the vet with photos of her abscess. Poor hen has so many issues - she's very full of life and active but she goes to bed early, when she was always the latest one to roost with Lulu these last months.

It was windy and very cold today, even with the sun. The chickens all came back to roost on their own for the first time ; it seems they finally now all understand they have to come down and go all the way around to reach the coop !

 

[BDutch]

There is a point system for being naughty. I collected a few.
Get enough points and one gets banned. I would assume the removal of badges works on the same principle.
I should point out that from what I've seen the points system for bad behaviour is fair given the nature of the site.

Sure you are not too naughty with 3 badges.

I only had 1 warning once making a joke with family unfriendly vocabulary.

 

[BDutch]

I never even thought that was possible !
It's just that I found this site helpful when I first encountered health and behaviour issues, and I don't feel like I'm paying back.

Of course it’s possible. You are amazing company. Glad you finally know.

Sorry to hear Lilly isn’t improving.

 

[ManueB]

The soft shell laying has taken a sudden bad turn for Alba.
Up to now, although she had laid a few shell-less eggs with blood inside, it never seemed to affect her. So I was hoping it was a temporary and benign issue, whether a virus, or a deficiency while molting.
Tuesday, in the middle of the afternoon she popped an egg with only a tiny bit of soft shell out, and she was suddenly very unwell. Some of the shell had stayed inside. She put herself in a nest and didn't move for the whole night. I wasn't sure she would make it through. The next morning, so yesterday, she came down from the nest, ate and drank. I saw she had expelled another piece of soft shell in the nest. I thought she was going to be better, but it wasn't the case. I gave her human calcium pills in yogurt ; she ate three in the morning and then refused them, even mixed with other nice food.
She spent yesterday night in the nest again. She was up today, but not doing good at all. She perked up a bit at the end of the afternoon, and went to bed next to where Théo roosts.

So I suppose it's a more serious issue than I hoped. If she's well enough to do the drive there and back, my partner could eventually bring her to the vet next wednesday, when he takes Lilly for her keel bone abscess.

There is no way to say it nicely, but I don't really like these two chickens Alba and Nieva. It's not because they also don't like me ; I love Théo, even though he hates my guts. It just doesn't click with them. But I feel sorry for them that they have so many problems. We were discussing with my partner how the ex-batt's, who arrived here around three months, were actually in better overall health and condition than those four hens we bought. The ex-batt's had reproductive issues like production breeds do ; but they had no physical defects, no parasites, and very few other problems throughout their life than the ones that came from laying too many eggs. Lilly, Kara, Nieva and Alba arrived here with coccidiosis ; Kara has a broken beak and Lilly's legs are twisted ; they all had lice and they are over prone to serious bumblefoot ; and they have reproductive issues to top it all.

Today's weather was plain horrible. Strong northern wind, very grey, it didn't go higher than 5/41, but it felt a lot colder than it usually does here at those temperatures. The chickens stayed sheltered most of the day but they did come out an hour before roost time.
Mélisse and Annette have both been laying very nice eggs so I guess the break did them good. And Léa, as always, is following Merle in turning broody. She isn't sitting yet but I expect it will be the case on a few days.

Early morning, Gaston frolicking in the crate with Chipie.

Tuesday there was a lot of dustbathing, it was the first day that the soil was dry enough and the weather nice.

Kara

Laure

This was Alba yesterday.

I went running this morning in spite of the wind. It was more blue higher but extremely cold. I didn't take a balaclava... ( is this a real word ? I looked up the translation for what we call passe-montagne and that's what came up !). My nose froze !

Alba this afternoon. Definitely looking a wee bit better.

 

[Molpet]

balaclava... ( is this a real word ? I looked up the translation for what we call passe-montagne and that's what came up !). My nose froze !

Yes, that's what they are called. Not sure what language it comes from, but I have these.

So sorry for the hen's illness.

ETA from

 

[RoyalChick]

The soft shell laying has taken a sudden bad turn for Alba.
Up to now, although she had laid a few shell-less eggs with blood inside, it never seemed to affect her. So I was hoping it was a temporary and benign issue, whether a virus, or a deficiency while molting.
Tuesday, in the middle of the afternoon she popped an egg with only a tiny bit of soft shell out, and she was suddenly very unwell. Some of the shell had stayed inside. She put herself in a nest and didn't move for the whole night. I wasn't sure she would make it through. The next morning, so yesterday, she came down from the nest, ate and drank. I saw she had expelled another piece of soft shell in the nest. I thought she was going to be better, but it wasn't the case. I gave her human calcium pills in yogurt ; she ate three in the morning and then refused them, even mixed with other nice food.
She spent yesterday night in the nest again. She was up today, but not doing good at all. She perked up a bit at the end of the afternoon, and went to bed next to where Théo roosts.

So I suppose it's a more serious issue than I hoped. If she's well enough to do the drive there and back, my partner could eventually bring her to the vet next wednesday, when he takes Lilly for her keel bone abscess.

There is no way to say it nicely, but I don't really like these two chickens Alba and Nieva. It's not because they also don't like me ; I love Théo, even though he hates my guts. It just doesn't click with them. But I feel sorry for them that they have so many problems. We were discussing with my partner how the ex-batt's, who arrived here around three months, were actually in better overall health and condition than those four hens we bought. The ex-batt's had reproductive issues like production breeds do ; but they had no physical defects, no parasites, and very few other problems throughout their life than the ones that came from laying too many eggs. Lilly, Kara, Nieva and Alba arrived here with coccidiosis ; Kara has a broken beak and Lilly's legs are twisted ; they all had lice and they are over prone to serious bumblefoot ; and they have reproductive issues to top it all.

Today's weather was plain horrible. Strong northern wind, very grey, it didn't go higher than 5/41, but it felt a lot colder than it usually does here at those temperatures. The chickens stayed sheltered most of the day but they did come out an hour before roost time.
Mélisse and Annette have both been laying very nice eggs so I guess the break did them good. And Léa, as always, is following Merle in turning broody. She isn't sitting yet but I expect it will be the case on a few days.

Early morning, Gaston frolicking in the crate with Chipie.
View attachment 4029272
Tuesday there was a lot of dustbathing, it was the first day that the soil was dry enough and the weather nice.
View attachment 4029273
Kara
View attachment 4029274View attachment 4029275
Laure
View attachment 4029276
This was Alba yesterday.
View attachment 4029277
I went running this morning in spite of the wind. It was more blue higher but extremely cold. I didn't take a balaclava... ( is this a real word ? I looked up the translation for what we call passe-montagne and that's what came up !). My nose froze !
View attachment 4029278View attachment 4029279View attachment 4029285View attachment 4029286
Alba this afternoon. Definitely looking a wee bit better.
View attachment 4029287

So sorry for Alba.
And yes, balaclava is definitely a word. Sometimes people say 'balaclava helmet' but I always just say balaclava (the helmet seems superfluous).
The word dates from the Crimean war and the battle of Balaclava (1850-something).

 

[Perris]

Lilly, Kara, Nieva and Alba arrived here with coccidiosis ; Kara has a broken beak and Lilly's legs are twisted ; they all had lice and they are over prone to serious bumblefoot ; and they have reproductive issues to top it all.

This is such a shame. Were they all from the same source? If so, I wouldn't get more from the same place.

 

[BDutch]

The soft shell laying has taken a sudden bad turn for Alba.

Poor girl. I do hope she hasn’t gotten an infection. I keep ny fingers crossed for her recovery .

Very weird that this group is sick so often. It makes me wonder wether their genes are okay . But even if this is underlying, there us nothing you can do about it.

How is your nose now?
In NL we say bivouac-hat to a balaclava.

 

[ManueB]

So sorry for Alba.
And yes, balaclava is definitely a word. Sometimes people say 'balaclava helmet' but I always just say balaclava (the helmet seems superfluous).
The word dates from the Crimean war and the battle of Balaclava (1850-something).

Oh, that's a logical explanation then. I was so hoping it had something to do with Bakhlava .
(In fact I started looking at recipes and it seems so easy to do..and I have honey and almonds, I would just need to get some phyllo ! Or learn to make it !)

This is such a shame. Were they all from the same source? If so, I wouldn't get more from the same place.

Yes, I mentioned a few times how unhappy I was with that local breeder.
Now I know a bit more, I've realised she is not a breeder. She buys from a hatchery and raises chicks to sell a few months later. Apparently quite a few of the people who sell chickens in France do that. We don't have hatcheries for backyard chicken keepers as in the US, but there are hatcheries that sell chicks to farms, who grows them and sell point of lay pullets to individuals.

Very weird that this group is sick so often. It makes me wonder wether their genes are okay . But even if this is underlying, there us nothing you can do about it.

I think they have both bad genetics and grew up in bad conditions. Maybe you remember when they arrived, I explained that they were ravenous, and Perris said they were probably lacking some nutrients
Also they smelled really bad, and didn't know how to roost, which led me to believe they lived overcrowded on the floor. The only positive thing was that they had likely already spent time outside foraging from their behaviour.

I'm not buying adult chickens ever again except possibly from people I know. I was told not to on BYC, I did it all the same because I thought it would help the flock's dynamic at that time, and it did, but I've learned my lesson. I've made sure to let everyone around here know that buying from her was not a good choice, and indeed she has lost customers from our village who now buy from farms further away, but with chickens in better condition.

Today the weather was much, much nicer ! Alba is still alive, but she is neither better or worse. Things were a bit chaotic between the chickens, especially at roosting, because Merle doesn't want to see Théo now, so he's alone all day and fights with Gaston whenever he gets a chance. If it lasts, we'll have to think of something. And Gaston unfortunately has wounded the sole of his foot fighting.

Here are a few pictures. Then, I will do a long rambling post which has almost nothing to do with chickens, so you're warned if you don't want to read about my life . And tomorrow, I will post the first part of Piou-piou's story. I didn't manage to make it short enough for just one post.

Théo was so angry today he did something he hadn't done for ages - flogged both my leg and my hand. I barely felt it, he lacked confidence! Then the sun shone and he couldn't resist a bit of dozing.

In the morning Alba seemed not too bad but she put herself in a nest at noon and didn't come out until roost time.

Yep..broody and locked out of the coop.

That was very touching. Théo would not let Alba roost next to him, where she was last evening. She then went to Gaston who began pecking her away. She cooed a bit to him, groomed lightly his head, and cuddled right to him...and he let her. They fell asleep like this. It's the first time I see Gaston that close to a hen , and it's especially sweet because he's not close to Alba, so I suppose she told him she was very sick.