Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[Shadrach]

I was away for two days to see my parents, and my aunt and uncle who came to visit them for a few days.
While my parents are in good health and don't consider themselves as old people, I can't help but notice how so many of their relations are dropping dead these last months... or preparing to. My mum was born the 25 december 1947, a birthdate that's difficult to forget ; she still scuba dives and hikes in the mountains, but this Christmas, when we went for a rather long hike, both my brother and I noticed for the first time that she is beginning to have real balance issues.
Anyway I'm going to try to go see them more often, and since it takes me more than two hours to get there, I will likely sleep over and stay for two or three days. My partner had to take over caring for the chickens for two days. While he always joked that I'm getting stressed for nothing, I think he found it rather stressful . Since he rarely does it he doesn't know about all the small details that can help make things go more smoothly and that I don't even think about because I'm so used to doing things that way.. if I had tried to tell him all about it before he would probably not have seen the point, but now he will.

I wasn't sure if Alba would still be alive when I came back. She is still there and it's hard to say if she will die in the next days or if it will take longer. She is obviously getting worse, but still mobile, still able to follow a bit the other chickens, and even to run away from me whenever I try to come close. She has the same strange leg movement walking that Nougat did, raising one leg very high. I suppose it's either a mass causing that or a stuck nerve.

Another not very good new is that while I wasn't there Laure tried to lay an egg and didn't succeed, and tonight she laid a soft shell egg. She looks perfectly fine so we are of course going to wait to see how things go.

A better new is that while I was away Merle had decided to join Théo outside the chicken yard again. My partner told me that the first day she did this, Théo completely snubbed her and stayed with Annette despite Merle's outraged calls . But now he hangs out with both and is a happy chap, except when they go back in.

It's been raining on and on which we really need. But it's gotten very muddy because there isn't enough grass left in the chicken yard. The rain should stop on Sunday so it should dry again. I'm not sure what to do about their yard. I guess I should reseed at least one half and leave unaccessible for four or five weeks ; but it's too steep to use any of our tillers and it's sufficiently big that to dig it all manually would take a lot of time. And I would like to keep some of the vegetation that has withstood the chicken's digging, some of it is good for them and the soil ( although there are some invasive weeds that need to go)

I'm sorry that I don't have good pics from today. It's hard to get nice pictures when it's so rainy and muddy.

This was on Tuesday before I left. Alba in front was looking better than now.
View attachment 4040183
Today.
View attachment 4040184View attachment 4040186
Alba now. It doesn't show but part of her comb is turning purple.
View attachment 4040187View attachment 4040188View attachment 4040190
Dustbathing is now in the run or in the coop.
View attachment 4040191View attachment 4040192View attachment 4040193View attachment 4040194
View attachment 4040203View attachment 4040206View attachment 4040215View attachment 4040216

You get better pictures than I do in the damp grey conditions. Amazing what some sunlight does to photograpy.

 

[ManueB]

It is a blessing that your parents are basically still in good shape!

Indeed. I want to see them more often while they still are, rather than wait until they won't be. Thinking about you especially, I realise i'm lucky they live that close. They, my brother and I, all moved in the same region within a matter of seven years.

After a long winter break from laying, Meimei laid two very fragile eggs. First one broke upon touching, 2nd one got a tiny bit better. I was able to carry it back to house.

Some hens have weak shells when they start back laying. For others, it's the opposite and they have better shells at the beginning after a long pause. I'm still not able to tell what's normal and what's not regarding laying. I thought Alba laying only every two or three days a huge egg was due to moulting, but in fact she was probably already having troubles.
How is Meimei behaving?

You get better pictures than I do in the damp grey conditions. Amazing what some sunlight does to photograpy.

Indeed! But it's frustrating as sometimes the colours and lights and nuances on rainy days can also be beautiful. I just don't manage to get that on a picture, or maybe it's the phone's camera.
Sunlight acts like a drug really, like sugar or caffeine. Once you're used to it it's hard to do without and not be slightly depressed. I suppose for you the withdrawal is over by now.

The chickens are having laying issues, again. I'm beginning to wonder once again if it's really genetics or if there isn't something they've caught here.
Laure laid another soft shell egg yesterday in the middle of the day and she was really unwell this time. I wasn't sure if all of the shell came out, but this morning she was in incredible shape and very hungry (she ate almost nothing yesterday).
So it looks like we are going to consider having her implanted again. I don't want to wait too long, but I do want to wait sufficiently to be sure it won't set itself on it's own. And my partner needs to be available to bring her to the clinic ; he's very busy the next weeks.
Lulu, who up to now was the one layer of the four younger hens with perfect small eggs, is beginning to lay flat eggs. It's the fourth one now, though not in a row. What the ???

Lilly is still not laying and going in the nest every day. And looking at her, she has renewed only about half of her feathers ; the other half is still old and shredded. Is it even possible that she moults for four or five months and stops laying all that time ?

Alba is still alive. She still wants to live, because when she can move, she follows the other chickens around and tries to forage. She still eats very tiny amount of commercial food, but this evening it seemed she wasn't able to anymore. She looks very weak and weaker every day. I don't know if it will evolve like our ex-batt's, who took months to die, or if it will be different, which I hope for her. I don't approach her anymore because she reacts like I'm going to kill her and it's very stressful. I throw some seeds at her when she's away from the other chickens and she eats them ; she refuses when I try giving them by hand, and she also refused egg and fish left by her side.

The other chickens seem to be doing good, including Kara, who surprises me by having moments of renewed energy exploring up and down, jumping walls and running for treats, even though she still looks very tired at other moments. She is also still renewing feathers - it's been something like a year now !

While it's not the time to make any decision, we are wondering and discussing with my partner if, and how, we should continue with keeping chickens, or rather continue to make the flock evolve (we are certainly keeping all the chickens that live here now until they die). I might do a whole post on this, because it will be long to write about.

A lot of pictures from the past days.

Saturday we had a dusting of snow which melted in a few hours.
The soil is now quite damp as we had over 60 ml of rain last week.

There was a short half hour of sunshine during which the chickens all dustbathed in the run except Alba who is too weak.

Yesterday the weather turned gradually nicer. There was some potential nest visiting.

And sun mellowing.

Today the weather is very nice, clear blue skies and sunshine. It was -3 this morning but the sun quickly warmed everything up.

Laure doing much better than yesterday.

More nest hunting but we haven't found any to our liking.

If you zoom on this picture you can see that Lilly still has on the front half of her wing old tattered feathers.

Sisters

 

[lightm]

Some hens have weak shells when they start back laying. For others, it's the opposite and they have better shells at the beginning after a long pause. I'm still not able to tell what's normal and what's not regarding laying. I thought Alba laying only every two or three days a huge egg was due to moulting, but in fact she was probably already having troubles.
How is Meimei behaving?

Meimei is doing good. You are indeed correct about different weak shell behavior. Meimei's egg shell is getting better. I think she has laid her 4th of 5th egg by now and the shell are more consitent and OK. They are still weak relative to Foxy's or Inky's but that is just genetic.

Meimei is always been a biologically weird chicken. She is BIG, and her butt is always REALLY dirty. Her poop is always too liquidy. We are happy that she is still living. She is turning 3 in 3 months.

----------
It is really sad to read about Alba :-(. It reminds me of Tina's slow death which traumatized my husband. I am sorry about other potential soft shell problems too.

 

[lightm]

I want to post a meimei photo. She is the chicken at the bottom. This is rare snow photo for us.

I also thought this photo of Mr bug poking his head out as snow is partially melting is very cute.

 

[ManueB]

Piou-piou's story
05/06/2022 - 22/12/2024

Part 3 : There's no time to loose, I heard her say ...

Looking back on that period, after the fox attack at the end of 2023, up to her death before Christmas 2024, I remember months of sheer happiness, when she finally got to enjoy life to the fullest.

But, reading back the thread, my posts and pictures tell a slightly different story. She had again several moments when she worried us, in may, then during summer with the heat, and again in september and in november. It usually coincided with a pause from laying, or soft shell eggs. She would look very tired and in pain. It lasted a few days up to a week each time, and then she was back to her usual self.

Overall however, I think she finally led a life close to her aspirations : free to scratch and dig as she pleased, with the garden and the terraces above to enjoy for her almost exclusive use.

And we were so happy when we saw that she was finally moulting in summer. Up to then, there had been no moult, and so her feathers she had so badly picked never had a chance to grow back to cover her wound ; but the moult did the trick and at the end of summer there was no trace left that she had been wounded.

Never did we find a one feather tail so beautiful!

During that year she gradually switched from still being a member of the flock although with a part time status, to being an almost complete outsider living outside the chicken yard. Until the summer 2024, we'd still let her go in the chicken yard during the day either alone or with Théo, to lay in the coop, or dustbath ; and she would spend time with the other hens.

Here she was with Cannelle who was very sick. Cannelle was maybe the only hen that Piou-piou became sort of friend with.

But then Théo decided he was going to fight Gaston back and that he wasn't accepting his place as dominated rooster anymore. After countless fights, we decided to keep him out all the time. We also added fencing to keep the hens from constantly going out in the garden and while Piou-piou was able to cross our netting, she could only do that with the fencing by struggling through, and so she came in only when there was some emergency.

Piou-piou and Théo definitely formed a separate tribe as a couple, with Merle joining them any time she wasn't broody.

While this may seem a bit lonely, we saw that Piou-piou had always wanted an exclusive relationship with her rooster ; and she never especially enjoyed the company of the other hens. In fact she was quite the bully to Merle, whom she still dominated. Interestingly Merle had, after the ex-batt's death, reached the top of the pecking order in the chicken yard ; but she remained submitted to Piou-piou until the end.
They always roosted together now, with Théo between the two of them.
There was no true love between Théo and Piou-piou as there had been with Gaston. But she came to accept and even seek out his company.

Gradually it became difficult to get Piou-piou to come in the chicken yard to roost. She was an early sleeper but she grew scared of the other hens. Even though she still liked Gaston very much, she was also scared of him and mostly kept her distance. So she would not go in to roost unless Théo escorted her ; and he would not always do that willingly.

She kept from her youth her love for digging and scratching and exploring. So many times, she disappeared for a long while, and I had to look for her and would find her all alone far out in the back garden or higher behind the old houses. But she wasn't as fearless as before. Some days she would stay close to our lunch table and the wood shed and not even go for a wander, and we supposed she had seen some predator that scared her.

That was how she behaved most days at the end of november throughout december, staying all morning in the wood shed, then close to the chicken yard's entrance. I will never know if she saw her future predator, but I don't believe so. More likely she was scared of the vultures, or just cold with morning below freezing.
And then, she was gone.

Spoiler: Dead headless Piou-piou

I have turned the page now and accepted that she has become sweet memories. I no longer miss her loud complaining or notice how empty it is having lunch outside without her. I am just glad that she could enjoy freedom and be a bit spoiled for the last months of her short life.
The chickens have moved on, too, and the social relationships shifted.

Pictures:

One of the rare time Gaston came out of the chicken yard to escort Piou-piou, before we put the fencing.

Mud boots were her distinctive fashion statement.

The last picture before she died.

Another period of my chicken keeping journey is over. I've taken an involuntary step back, as if chicken keeping will not be for me again as important, colorful, and emotional as it was when the little princess lived here. Time will tell whether that's good or bad.

 

[RoyalChick]

Piou-piou's story
05/06/2022 - 22/12/2024

Part 3 : There's no time to loose, I heard her say ...

Looking back on that period, after the fox attack at the end of 2023, up to her death before Christmas 2024, I remember months of sheer happiness, when she finally got to enjoy life to the fullest.
View attachment 4043792
But, reading back the thread, my posts and pictures tell a slightly different story. She had again several moments when she worried us, in may, then during summer with the heat, and again in september and in november. It usually coincided with a pause from laying, or soft shell eggs. She would look very tired and in pain. It lasted a few days up to a week each time, and then she was back to her usual self.
View attachment 4043874
Overall however, I think she finally led a life close to her aspirations : free to scratch and dig as she pleased, with the garden and the terraces above to enjoy for her almost exclusive use.
View attachment 4043869
And we were so happy when we saw that she was finally moulting in summer. Up to then, there had been no moult, and so her feathers she had so badly picked never had a chance to grow back to cover her wound ; but the moult did the trick and at the end of summer there was no trace left that she had been wounded.

Never did we find a one feather tail so beautiful!
View attachment 4043795

During that year she gradually switched from still being a member of the flock although with a part time status, to being an almost complete outsider living outside the chicken yard. Until the summer 2024, we'd still let her go in the chicken yard during the day either alone or with Théo, to lay in the coop, or dustbath ; and she would spend time with the other hens.

Here she was with Cannelle who was very sick. Cannelle was maybe the only hen that Piou-piou became sort of friend with.
View attachment 4043690
View attachment 4043695

But then Théo decided he was going to fight Gaston back and that he wasn't accepting his place as dominated rooster anymore. After countless fights, we decided to keep him out all the time. We also added fencing to keep the hens from constantly going out in the garden and while Piou-piou was able to cross our netting, she could only do that with the fencing by struggling through, and so she came in only when there was some emergency.

Piou-piou and Théo definitely formed a separate tribe as a couple, with Merle joining them any time she wasn't broody.
View attachment 4043790

While this may seem a bit lonely, we saw that Piou-piou had always wanted an exclusive relationship with her rooster ; and she never especially enjoyed the company of the other hens. In fact she was quite the bully to Merle, whom she still dominated. Interestingly Merle had, after the ex-batt's death, reached the top of the pecking order in the chicken yard ; but she remained submitted to Piou-piou until the end.
They always roosted together now, with Théo between the two of them.
There was no true love between Théo and Piou-piou as there had been with Gaston. But she came to accept and even seek out his company.
View attachment 4043789

Gradually it became difficult to get Piou-piou to come in the chicken yard to roost. She was an early sleeper but she grew scared of the other hens. Even though she still liked Gaston very much, she was also scared of him and mostly kept her distance. So she would not go in to roost unless Théo escorted her ; and he would not always do that willingly.

She kept from her youth her love for digging and scratching and exploring. So many times, she disappeared for a long while, and I had to look for her and would find her all alone far out in the back garden or higher behind the old houses. But she wasn't as fearless as before. Some days she would stay close to our lunch table and the wood shed and not even go for a wander, and we supposed she had seen some predator that scared her.
View attachment 4043873
That was how she behaved most days at the end of november throughout december, staying all morning in the wood shed, then close to the chicken yard's entrance. I will never know if she saw her future predator, but I don't believe so. More likely she was scared of the vultures, or just cold with morning below freezing.
And then, she was gone.

Spoiler: Dead headless Piou-piou

View attachment 4043877

I have turned the page now and accepted that she has become sweet memories. I no longer miss her loud complaining or notice how empty it is having lunch outside without her. I am just glad that she could enjoy freedom and be a bit spoiled for the last months of her short life.
The chickens have moved on, too, and the social relationships shifted.

Pictures:
View attachment 4043688View attachment 4043691View attachment 4043693View attachment 4043692
One of the rare time Gaston came out of the chicken yard to escort Piou-piou, before we put the fencing.
View attachment 4043694
View attachment 4043788
View attachment 4043787
View attachment 4043797View attachment 4043798View attachment 4043799View attachment 4043870View attachment 4043871
View attachment 4043791
Mud boots were her distinctive fashion statement.
View attachment 4043796

View attachment 4043875View attachment 4043876View attachment 4043878View attachment 4043879
The last picture before she died.
View attachment 4043881

Another period of my chicken keeping journey is over. I've taken an involuntary step back, as if chicken keeping will not be for me again as important, colorful, and emotional as it was when the little princess lived here. Time will tell whether that's good or bad.

Lovely Piou-Piou. A memorial story worthy of her fierce spirit.

I understand that this changed your chicken keeping journey. I experienced something similar after that awful period when I lost so many.
I find though that they have a habit of reasserting themselves into your life however much emotional distance you seek to retain.

 

[BDutch]

Thank you for sharing Piou-Piou’s life and thoughts.

 

[ManueB]

I find though that they have a habit of reasserting themselves into your life however much emotional distance you seek to retain.

I hope you've found the right emotional place with your wonderful hens !
I'm taking things as they come. I wouldn't mind not always feeling like a chicken dying was the end of the world .

I want to post a meimei photo. She is the chicken at the bottom. This is rare snow photo for us.
View attachment 4043440

I also thought this photo of Mr bug poking his head out as snow is partially melting is very cute.
View attachment 4043438

Both pictures made me smile ! Snow is wonderful when it's a rare thing.
Yes, I hope Meimei makes it to three. That used to be the big milestone for me before any of my chicken died ! Now I realise years don't mean much. Some chickens are old in their third year and other still feel in their prime many years later !

Four days of sun have done wonders for the chicken's mood and for mine. Alba is doing a bit better ! Not like she is going to heal, but she actually dustbathed today and passed two real poops, for the first time since she has been sick. Yesterday just before roosting Gaston went in the garden for twenty minutes like he has been doing the past days and all the hens came with him, including Alba. It was the first time Alba, Nieva, and Kara were allowed there and they loved it ! I think it may have done Alba some good because she eats so little and she found the chard and some leaves that she liked in there.
Like Cannelle, the only thing I can give her now that she will eat is banana. Unfortunately we didn't have any left but my partner is working tomorrow and I've asked him to stock up some for her.

Laure's last egg was very strange, but not soft shelled, and she laid it normally, without being in pain. We have an appointment for her on Wednesday. I think my partner will take her even if she lays another hard shelled egg and assess with the vet what would be best for her.

A strange egg- the cap on top I believe is the tail soft shelled eggs sometimes have that hardened up to form a cap. It came off easily and the shell was ok apart from that.

 

[Sylvester017]

Piou-piou's story
05/06/2022 - 22/12/2024

Part 3 : There's no time to loose, I heard her say ...

Looking back on that period, after the fox attack at the end of 2023, up to her death before Christmas 2024, I remember months of sheer happiness, when she finally got to enjoy life to the fullest.
View attachment 4043792
But, reading back the thread, my posts and pictures tell a slightly different story. She had again several moments when she worried us, in may, then during summer with the heat, and again in september and in november. It usually coincided with a pause from laying, or soft shell eggs. She would look very tired and in pain. It lasted a few days up to a week each time, and then she was back to her usual self.
View attachment 4043874
Overall however, I think she finally led a life close to her aspirations : free to scratch and dig as she pleased, with the garden and the terraces above to enjoy for her almost exclusive use.
View attachment 4043869
And we were so happy when we saw that she was finally moulting in summer. Up to then, there had been no moult, and so her feathers she had so badly picked never had a chance to grow back to cover her wound ; but the moult did the trick and at the end of summer there was no trace left that she had been wounded.

Never did we find a one feather tail so beautiful!
View attachment 4043795

During that year she gradually switched from still being a member of the flock although with a part time status, to being an almost complete outsider living outside the chicken yard. Until the summer 2024, we'd still let her go in the chicken yard during the day either alone or with Théo, to lay in the coop, or dustbath ; and she would spend time with the other hens.

Here she was with Cannelle who was very sick. Cannelle was maybe the only hen that Piou-piou became sort of friend with.
View attachment 4043690
View attachment 4043695

But then Théo decided he was going to fight Gaston back and that he wasn't accepting his place as dominated rooster anymore. After countless fights, we decided to keep him out all the time. We also added fencing to keep the hens from constantly going out in the garden and while Piou-piou was able to cross our netting, she could only do that with the fencing by struggling through, and so she came in only when there was some emergency.

Piou-piou and Théo definitely formed a separate tribe as a couple, with Merle joining them any time she wasn't broody.
View attachment 4043790

While this may seem a bit lonely, we saw that Piou-piou had always wanted an exclusive relationship with her rooster ; and she never especially enjoyed the company of the other hens. In fact she was quite the bully to Merle, whom she still dominated. Interestingly Merle had, after the ex-batt's death, reached the top of the pecking order in the chicken yard ; but she remained submitted to Piou-piou until the end.
They always roosted together now, with Théo between the two of them.
There was no true love between Théo and Piou-piou as there had been with Gaston. But she came to accept and even seek out his company.
View attachment 4043789

Gradually it became difficult to get Piou-piou to come in the chicken yard to roost. She was an early sleeper but she grew scared of the other hens. Even though she still liked Gaston very much, she was also scared of him and mostly kept her distance. So she would not go in to roost unless Théo escorted her ; and he would not always do that willingly.

She kept from her youth her love for digging and scratching and exploring. So many times, she disappeared for a long while, and I had to look for her and would find her all alone far out in the back garden or higher behind the old houses. But she wasn't as fearless as before. Some days she would stay close to our lunch table and the wood shed and not even go for a wander, and we supposed she had seen some predator that scared her.
View attachment 4043873
That was how she behaved most days at the end of november throughout december, staying all morning in the wood shed, then close to the chicken yard's entrance. I will never know if she saw her future predator, but I don't believe so. More likely she was scared of the vultures, or just cold with morning below freezing.
And then, she was gone.

Spoiler: Dead headless Piou-piou

View attachment 4043877

I have turned the page now and accepted that she has become sweet memories. I no longer miss her loud complaining or notice how empty it is having lunch outside without her. I am just glad that she could enjoy freedom and be a bit spoiled for the last months of her short life.
The chickens have moved on, too, and the social relationships shifted.

Pictures:
View attachment 4043688View attachment 4043691View attachment 4043693View attachment 4043692
One of the rare time Gaston came out of the chicken yard to escort Piou-piou, before we put the fencing.
View attachment 4043694
View attachment 4043788
View attachment 4043787
View attachment 4043797View attachment 4043798View attachment 4043799View attachment 4043870View attachment 4043871
View attachment 4043791
Mud boots were her distinctive fashion statement.
View attachment 4043796

View attachment 4043875View attachment 4043876View attachment 4043878View attachment 4043879
The last picture before she died.
View attachment 4043881

Another period of my chicken keeping journey is over. I've taken an involuntary step back, as if chicken keeping will not be for me again as important, colorful, and emotional as it was when the little princess lived here. Time will tell whether that's good or bad.

It's just like you said ~ sweet little Piou-Piou was tiny even for a bantam plus her shorter legs made her even smaller. We found in the past that our most loved hens were because they had health issues & because we nursed them issue after issue we grew very attached to them and they to us.

 

[RoyalChick]

I hope you've found the right emotional place with your wonderful hens !
I'm taking things as they come. I wouldn't mind not always feeling like a chicken dying was the end of the world .

I hope so too! I certainly coped better with losing Bernadette-the- brave than I expected and than I did with some of the others.
Partly I think though it was because she had what I will weirdly describe as 'a good death'. Far too young of course, but in her sleep and after a fine dinner.
Who could ask for more!
I also feel in her case I really could not have done anything different. So I miss her companionship and she was an unusual and remarkable hen in many ways which I enjoyed. But I am at peace with the memories.