Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[ManueB]

Blanche was not on the roost when I opened the coop. I found her hiding in a corner underneath the crate. She must have fallen off during the night. It's not likely she was pushed off, because she fell asleep right against Gaston.
It looked again like she would not make it through the day, which was our potato planting day. Instead of leaving her in the crate where she would be alone most of the day in the coop, we decided to take her with us, thinking she could sleep in the sun and we could watch her more easily.

It was wonderful to see her wake up and begin to follow my partner while he was digging the ranges. She even pretended to scratch a bit and caught some worms she didn't manage to eat.

While we were having lunch outside, she moved to the entrance of the chicken yard and laid down against the door. I thought maybe she wanted to go back in so I opened it, but she made it clear she wanted to stay on the other side. Then she fell in a deep sleep, and once again I thought she would die and had chosen to be close to the others but protected from interactions.

Our neighbour came over for coffee and when he saw her he offered to put her down. But now we feel both sure that for Blanche, unless she is in pain like she was a week ago, euthanasia is not the right decision. She never gives up. In the middle of the afternoon I was very surprised to see she got up again and moved around just a little bit while Piou-piou came out to scratch in the manure pile.

Tonight I put her in the crate ; she is definitely too weak to sleep on the roost. As soon as she was inside she fell again in a deep slumber.

 

[BDutch]

I hope Blanche will find her peace before her live gets miserable.

The internet is a bit unreliable, hopefully good enough to send you a photo of one of todays highlight of our hike to the 25 cascades on Madeira.

 

[ManueB]

I hope Blanche will find her peace before her live gets miserable.

She is taking a long time to die, but now she is unconscious sleeping almost all day, so I hope she does not feel any pain.

The internet is a bit unreliable, hopefully good enough to send you a photo of one of todays highlight of our hike to the 25 cascades on Madeira.

View attachment 3807878

Beautiful, thanks for sharing! I hope you enjoyed your holidays.

Past two days we had a little sun, a little snow, some hail,and unfortunately a whole night in the -c/ below 30°. So anything that fears cold and had survived the first night is now frozen . The walnut tree, the grapevines and especially the raspberry grapevine we planted last year outside the chicken run, the kiwi trees, all the baby saplings.. they won't die but no fruit and likely no more growth this year.

The chickens also don't understand these sudden weather changes ; but now they are pretty used to shelter in the coop and run when it snows /hails.

A summary of Théo's daily life in pictures.
A ray of sun ? Let's bathe with Piou-piou!

Oh no...hackles raised...

This guy is coming....I run !

And he takes my place !

Twenty times a day we repeat "Gaston, laisse le petit coq tranquille !" = "leave the small rooster be !" I am certain Gaston knows what this means by now.

Random pictures.

Not chickens. The lambs are pretty upset they had to go back in their shelter just a week after being let out to graze, but it's really too cold for the younger ones. I saw the kids for the first time, they are just a few days.

Merle is being courted by both Théo and Gaston since she is laying again.

Chipie hates the cold.

What is that exceptional excellent treat that has Mélisse climb on my partner's knees ?

Spoiler

Past consumption date pork ham given to us by our elderly neighbour. Of course he did not intend it for the chickens

 

[ManueB]

The last three days haven't been very cheerful, though nothing dramatic. (It used to make me feel better to talk about the stuff going wrong but now I feel it's getting harder, I just want to post photos of happy chickens in the sunshine ).

We had two other nights of hard freeze and the damage to the trees is worse than I ever saw in my 11 years coming here. Not sure yet what will die ; most of the saplings for sure ; even the older adult trees like the fig trees, oaks, maple trees, our linden tree have all their young leaves frozen, black or limp. We try not to get upset as it's something we have no control over, but it's too bad after such a good start to the year, the rain and heat had really helped all the baby trees we planted to thrive for once .

And Blanche is still alive. The thing is, she is still fighting, even though she is really almost dead. Whenever she feels up to it, she struggles to eat tiny bits, drinks, preens and still talks to us asking to take her out. I was decided to euthanize her, because she clearly has no chicken life now, but my partner didn't agree because it's obvious she would not want it. And I'm not sufficiently convinced that I am right to argue with him ; it's so difficult to know what to do.
Since we are having four or five days of rain, and it's doesn't get warmer than 6/42 during the day, I've brought her inside today so she can be warm and quiet. It is very unusual for me to do that with a chicken who is not familiar with our place, and I prefer letting them stay with the other chickens. But she is and has always been very close and trusting toward us. She seems to feel more relaxed than staying in the crate in the coop, maybe because of the warmth. She laid down to sleep easily, whereas in the crate she sleeps on her feet most of the time and she doesn't look comfortable. I've also been giving her painkillers for the last two days so maybe that is why she can sleep more relaxed.

Probably the last naps in the sun on Wednesday.

Happier stuff - I saw Petit Blanc / Blanchon at my neighbour 's place crowing his heart out. He has 16 hens now !

And the nice guy.

 

[BDutch]

Wow, its really cold out there. Sorry for your struggling trees and the frozen fruit.

It seems you are doing Blanche a great pleasure to get her in the warmth of the house and your company to rest.

I wonder what painkiller you give her, and how much? How do you divide a tablet into equal tiny pieces?

Nice to hear Petit blanc is doing so wel!

 

[ManueB]

Wow, its really cold out there. Sorry for your struggling trees and the frozen fruit.

It seems you are doing Blanche a great pleasure to get her in the warmth of the house and your company to rest.

I think it did her a lot of good to rest being quiet and warm for a whole day, even though the cats disturbed her a bit during the night, because today she was better and more active and hungry. Because the weather was finally less cold, I took her outside almost the whole day and put her in the crate in the coop tonight. But tomorrow it's raining so we might have her in again.
I'm not sure I did right though, she doesn't seem to want to go back with the other chickens. She was trying to go back in our house.

I wonder what painkiller you give her, and how much? How do you divide a tablet into equal tiny pieces?

I give her acetaminophen/ paracetamol. I only give that to chickens who I think will die soon because even though studies have shown it's safe for birds, in France we are very much forewarned it can cause damage to the liver. Dosage is 10 mg per kilo. I can't dose precisely as I have 500 mg tabs. I just cut in two, then scrap off a tiny amount twice a day and mix it in a drop of yoghurt. As I said, I only did that for dying chickens so the eventuality of dosing too much doesn't really matter.
In all other cases I give meloxicam (metacam) which requires a vet prescription. It's liquid and dosed with a syringe so it's a lot more precise but I haven't found it as effective.

Nice to hear Petit blanc is doing so wel!

Yes, I'm very happy for him. I've got a wonderful anecdote my neighbour told me about a bantam hen and him that I need to post about, but I'm too tired tonight .

Good news today : Léa is off the nest ! She finally decided after 17 days being broody was no fun.
Bad news also .

Yep, Gaston's turn to break a spur, even though I didn't feel his were too long. It was a shower of blood .

 

[BDutch]

Did you read the story of the oldest chicken (Guinness record). The hen was taken inside with her dayghter. And the both became extremely old.
So I was thinking it probably not bad at all to let Blanche in the house if you feel comfortable with the idea too.

Thanks for the paracetamol tip/dosage in case I need a painkiller. The liver damage can happen with humans who take much paracetamol too. Maybe its easier and more precise to buy the liquid paracetamol, dilute with water and calculate the amount /ml to give.

Im looking forward to your post of Pied-beau.