Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[lightm]

Work can definitely be stressful and good bosses are rare as diamonds. Try to do things that help unwind and give you some energy outside work ?
And maybe ask yourself what would really happen if you left part of the job undone - sometimes it can be a way to shake things up ?

Thank you. I am trying to do only what's necessary, and look out for my own interest. So much good things could have been done if we had good leadership.
-----------------
I don't have good suggestions for your question. My gut feeling is that give Merle some eggs to keep Chipie/Theo lineage, and deal with the roosters as they come. As you said, they will be small-sized chickens so easier on your land. I know it is easy for me to say...

@Molpet heart-breaking story of Willie. Animals are amazing

 

[Perris]

I'd be interested by your opinions, especially as some of you might see things differently

I think the cons outweigh the pros as you have described them.

I understand your desire to perpetuate a particular line, but that requires not just eggs set and hatched but healthy breeding adults (something I explored in my broody article), and it's not obvious to me that eggs from Chipie, or from her genetic relatives that the old couple are struggling to look after, are going to produce eggs that hatch, chicks that survive, and hens and roos that are themselves fertile, which is what is required to achieve that aim.

Personally, I also don't let them breed this early in the season; when the wild birds breed is my clock for that.

You also have your own business to consider; in your shoes, I would wait till your race is imminent / over and reassess then.

 

[ManueB]

The coyote, 'wild E' after the roadrunner cartoon, or more often called Willie, was definitely not a dog. Wouldn't come when called after training for over a year. He was quite amused to play can't catch me.
I found him jumping at the base of the waterbed one day. He had bit it over 20 times and the water was dripping on the floor. I ended up putting chicken wire over a 24x24 ft pen and a wire skirt so I had somewhere to lock him in other than the house. I made a 4x4x4 ft house for him.
When I put on a lead and brought into the house he would panic and poop. Even though he had pooped outside. He wouldn't ask to go out, but he would pee in the basement floor drain which was good.

When he was almost 2, I woke up with him standing over me staring. It was breeding season. So out he went in the pen. For several weeks he stayed in the pen because he was acting like a wild animal, very spooky and didn't want anything to do with me. Then one day he wanted to be petted and was acting normal. I brought him back in.
Unfortunately a couple months later I was sitting on the couch with my boyfriend and the coyote. My boyfriend put his arm around me as usual and without warning the coyote bit his bicep with several deep wounds. Boyfriend was terrified of the coyote after that but didn't want me to put him down. Coyote was fine with me reprimanding him but wanted to get my boyfriend every time he seen him. Boyfriend had been visiting the coyotes entire life and he had taken the coyote to his house for 10 days when I went out of town for a couple weeks the year before.

That August my parents came to visit in their travel trailer. They had been worried about the coyote. I got home from work late after midnight and didn't bring in the coyote. In the morning he was gone. Gate was shut, no gaps in the fence or any sign he had gotten through. Parents said they had heard him howling but didn't know anything. I looked and looked through the property and never seen him. I think my dad either took him out and shot him disposing of the body somewhere else or let him go. I doubt he let him go because of a wild animal not afraid of people and had bitten a person. Letting him go was something I had said I wouldn't do.

I agree with Light that it's a beautiful heartbreaking story, but also a very powerful one, raises hard questions about if and how we can take care of wild life, and facing consequences for the choices we make.
It would make a really good short story, if you like writing.
Thanks for telling us, it made quite an impression on me.

Going off a tangent, I thought of you when I recently saw this article about long COVID and love (I was able to access it freely but it did require signing in). Not for the corny love story but for COVID making you loose things we take for granted, and how to keep going on once you realise it will last.

I think the cons outweigh the pros as you have described them.

Honestly... that's also what I was realising as I wrote it down.

I understand your desire to perpetuate a particular line, but that requires not just eggs set and hatched but healthy breeding adults (something I explored in my broody article), and it's not obvious to me that eggs from Chipie, or from her genetic relatives that the old couple are struggling to look after, are going to produce eggs that hatch, chicks that survive, and hens and roos that are themselves fertile, which is what is required to achieve that aim.

I need to read again your article, but I do remember the part you mention : that if many hens produced offsprings, only a few produced an actual lineage with their offspring reproducing.
As far as the health of the bantams that couple keeps, I didn't even think about it because up to last year those were very healthy chickens - in the sense of survival of the fittest : they were very much left to their own free ranging and only the few that escaped predators and managed to survive reproduced for generations. But it's true that during the last year I don't see them free range anymore and I'm not sure what's up with those chickens.

Thanks for your thoughts too Light and Bdutch. If we did decide to get eggs from that couple for Merle, it would have to be for a hatch around mid may so that gives us a bit more time to think about it. If we decide not to, well, maybe those people will make it to next year and we can do it then - or, we could hatch next year eggs from Théo and Merle who are both healthy but crazy chickens .

This morning there was a dense damp fog and 2°/36, not very enjoyable. While I was running the fog gradually climbed above me, which was beautiful. The chickens then enjoyed a wonderful afternoon dustbathing and sunbathing for hours, and it was obvious again how the sun makes a real difference in their attitude.
Chipie had another seizure this morning and tonight Théo attacked her at roost time. She was doing fine during the day, but I didn't manage to give her any supplement food with the B complex. And I also witnessed Lulu and Laure chasing her during the day.
It's rather surprising that Gaston is being so nice and protective with her. Usually he only does that with hens who are laying. And when I've had very sick hens, he was sometimes tolerant to let them roost near him but most often aloof and drove them off. Maybe Chipie is different to him because she hatched him ? It's funny to remember now how she used to terrify him for months until he rebelled and fought her once and for all. And now, she cries for him and runs to him for protection.

We have a new beautiful regular raptor visitor - a gorgeous dark black kite. He is all the more dangerous as he comes from below, which means we don't see him until he's right there. The chickens are better than us at spotting him fortunately.


I took a lot of dustbathing and sunbathing pictures because it's just wonderful to watch them be so happy, like cats when they sleep.

Gaston dustbathed for a loooong time.

Chipie sticks to Léa like glue because Léa is one of the only hens she dominates.

It's impressive how much weight Merle has gained. I wish this didn't mean she will turn broody in a week or two !

And going above the fog.

I didn't like it that I had to go down back in to get home, but the fog lifted just after I finished showering.

 

[Molpet]

Going off a tangent, I thought of you when I recently saw this article about long COVID and love (I was able to access it freely but it did require signing in). Not for the corny love story but for COVID making you loose things we take for granted, and how to keep going on once you realise it will last.

So true what he is going through.
My brother came out to visit this summer for the first time since covid. The look on his face when he seen me was almost funny. He blurted out I looked so much older. I told him he looked younger lol. I don't think he understood until then.

 

[ManueB]

We have been busy the last days taking down a few trees in the gully that were caught in the electrical lines. One was very tricky to access so my partner's father came over - in case something happened he could drive my partner to the ER, whereas I don't drive. But he didn't want to do things the way my partner wanted and the tree ended up falling on the wrong side, down in the undergrowth. It's going to be long and difficult cutting it to pieces and getting it out of there.

Anyway back to the chickens. The weather has mostly been gloomy grey, damp without rain, and I only took pictures the few times the sun came out.
Chipie's seizures got gradually worse up to Sunday, where she did four (that I saw) really impressive, she was thrashing and unconscious for three or four minutes like a dying chicken. But since sunday evening, she has not had any seizure that I saw. I'm trying to get her to eat the B complex ; some days she does, some days she won't. Since during the day she is still being her normal self and being active, it's unthinkable to imagine putting her down, or even keeping her locked in a crate ; but when she has the seizures it's terrifying for her, and even a bit scary for me, and I dread to think how it goes when she's alone without me to hold her.

The good news is that after spending almost a day on the nest on Sunday worrying us, Laure laid a perfect egg today ! Her last egg was on the 8, so 17 days ago. I'm hoping she lays again before the yet again rescheduled vet appointment so I can decide to cancel or maintain ! She's doing well and Gaston is actively courting her.

The not so good news is that after getting better Alba had a relapse yesterday. She spent a lot of time in the nest today, I think she's trying to pass something, an egg or fibrine.

We have more or less established new morning and evening routines now that work, for the time being. Before I open the coop, I first put three bowls of mash in the run. Then I open and while the early hens rush out, I take Chipie from her nest and put her in the crate that's inside the coop, to eat her special vitamin bowl without being bothered by anyone. I pick Théo from his roost before he gets down to fight with Gaston and carry him and Merle to the woodshed where I've set breakfast for them. When I come back to clean the coop all the hens stay eating in the run but Laure, Mélisse and Gaston stay inside the coop with me and I lock us in while cleaning. This way I give a bowl of mash to Laure, who gets to eat quietly whereas it's difficult for her with the other chickens, and when she's finished she lets Mélisse eat as well ; Gaston can watch over Chipie ; and if Chipie has a seizure she's not surrounded by a crowd of hens. When I'm done I open the coop and all the hens come back in and either jump on the roost to preen, scratch around the hay in the coop, or start looking where they will lay.

At the end of the afternoon, I take all the chickens that are in the chicken yard in the field that's across. After a while, toward 4 or 4.15, Merle comes back from the garden on thebother side, in the coop to roost with Théo. I lock them in the coop while Gaston's team either comes back through the yard or takes the big turn up around our house, to access the garden. They are all well orientated by now and know how to go back to the coop or to the garden up or down. Meanwhile, Chipie goes to roost in the coop and I stay with her until she's in her nest because I've seen Théo attack her pretty badly a few times - and Chipie is a pest with Merle so she's also looking for trouble. Since she had two seizure at roost time I also don't want that to happen and Théo to possibly hurt her. When she's in bed, I check that all the other chickens are not destroying stuff in the garden and they have the time of their life for a small hour. They all come gradually to roost and I just need to be there at the moment when Gaston goes in the coop, otherwise he jumps on the roost to attack Théo. If I'm there, I just have to tell him once or twice to go to bed, and he does.

It's certainly a very interventionist way to keep the peace, but it works for the time being in the sense that the chickens seem less stressed. And we did try for a year to let Gaston and Théo sort it out themselves, which came to no avail once Théo decided he would not accept being dominated anymore.
But we are beginning to sow in the garden now and once we'll have significant portions with stuff growing that will not work anymore.

That morning Chipie had two seizures.in a row.

My partner ended up bringing her inside the house with him, but she was scared and disorientated, so it wasn't a good idea.

That same day there was a drizzle that managed to get Théo soaked and angry.

Chickens in the garden before roost time.

Yesterday the sun shone for two hours so I took a bunch of pictures.

Lili is in great shape, even though her molt has gone a bit wrong ! The scar from her surgery has healed nicely, she's laying fine eggs again, scratching all over the place and energetic as she used to be !

Lulu hasn't melted and now she looks terrible ! But no sign of growing feathers.

Laure is a bit less scared of us than she used to. Yesterday she was adjusting her crop a bit frequently and at roost time I managed to massage her crop. This would never have been possible just a few months ago.

Chipie napping under the olive tree from both sides.

 

[Perris]

for some reason your breakfast routine reminded me of this

master conductor, whirling skirts/feathers, jolly, busy...

 

[Kiki]

@ManueB
This is the way it would look if I were to use the fastest way to copy everything over to a Google Doc. It isn't very neat but it works.
Do you want me to copy over this whole thread for you?
I will but it will take me a week or two.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fUs878RPuX0beUFC1CMXBh3puXWEWxAj29U7Zto_Jyg/edit?usp=sharing

 

[ManueB]

@ManueB
This is the way it would look if I were to use the fastest way to copy everything over to a Google Doc. It isn't very neat but it works.
Do you want me to copy over this whole thread for you?
I will but it will take me a week or two.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fUs878RPuX0beUFC1CMXBh3puXWEWxAj29U7Zto_Jyg/edit?usp=sharing

You're really too kind to offer ! But I have all the time to do this, I'm not in a hurry, and I'm lucky to have a lot of free time. I do appreciate it, though. I'm beginning to realise you are very devoted to the BYC site and not just the mean rooster hater I first thought you were .

 

[ManueB]

for some reason your breakfast routine reminded me of this

master conductor, whirling skirts/feathers, jolly, busy...

That's quite a joyful tune ! I've tried to think of it these two mornings. It feels almost appropriate now, but at times I've been feeling more along that line :

I was going to begin this post by saying how much I enjoy the fragile peace between the two roosters while it lasts, but tonight they came down from their roost to fight in the run 45 mn after they had gone to bed. Good thing my partner was still outside and heard the noise. No harm done, they were just both literally covered in dust. It's the first time this has happened in a loooong time, so I guess we're about to enter a more difficult period.

There was a welcome change in the weather yesterday, morning below freezing at -3 and beautiful blue sky. The difference in the way the chickens behaved was obvious once again. They waited until the sun was shining to come out, and most of the hens stayed in the coop until then, which is something I don't see when the temperature is above 0. Then they enjoyed the sun like we did.

In my last post Tuesday I mentioned Alba was not well and trying to lay something. Tuesday evening she passed some yolk, and yesterday some egg white. It looks like she hasn't gotten everything out. However she's doing better than I would have thought seeing how she was on Tuesday.

Laure laid another perfect egg today ! So I am going to cancel the appointment and we can always make another one if she starts having trouble again. My partner and I were both very happy to see that egg !

And still no other seizure from Chipie. I'm bummed however that she doesn't seem to want to eat her bowl anymore. I tried without the B vitamin and she still left most of it, she only ate the almonds and seeds. I've been supplementing her for a year and it's the first time she's refusing scrambled eggs ! I might try with some very different other food.
(I fell down the rabbit hole reading about epilepsy in chickens - turns out it's a well researched genetic thing first studied in fayoumis. It doesn't correspond though because neurological issues already show up in chicks and very young chickens.)

Also, Théo is still full of keratin sheaths that he can't seem to get off, and it's been almost three months now. @Perris I remember you helped Kirk removing those when he couldn't move enough to do it himself, but I don't remember what you said you used ? Doing it with my fingers is very inefficient.

Pictures from the last two days :

Théo is going to be unhappy when Merle turns broody... which should be soon judging by her screams and the fact she dustbathes ten times a day.

Chipie seems to like hanging out under the olive tree !

Swingin' wattles

Alba still following along.

Alba and Chipie hang out a bit together, not that they like each other's company, but they don't want to wander too far away from the coop when the chickens go out in the garden, and they both roost much earlier than the rest, so they tend to come back together.

Her very floppy comb shows how sick she is but at least it did not stay black like it was Tuesday.

And behind that comb, Alba is still there.

Roosting tonight before the fight. Théo is on the far corner left, Gaston on the right.

And Piou-piou's roost is now always occupied by Laure and Kara. This roost was added initially as a temporary solution for two 1kg bantams, and those two hens weigh almost 6kg. We might have to change to something more solid !

This morning's run :

I'm finally beginning to see some progress running. Our village's youth committee is organising a trail race for the first time ever on the 23 of march, so that will be an easier way to wear a bib again before the race with my friend in june. I know those trails like my pocket and there will be very few people participating on the 20 km so I will be expected to place well . That means I have started what I like the less, speed work.

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

 

[BDutch]

Théo is going to be unhappy when Merle turns broody... which should be soon judging by her screams and the fact she dustbathes ten times a day.

Are you sure she has no parasites on her skin / no lice?

Swingin' wattles

I don’t have hens who can swing their wattles.

And behind that comb, Alba is still there.

Our village's youth committee is organising a trail race for the first time ever on the 23 of march

Nice!