Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[ManueB]

Another few hours of work on the run. We got the poles cemented in the morning, and fixed the main bar that will hold the structure, to the house's wall.
The chickens were both curious and stressed out this morning. Nougat and Brune wanted to lay while we were working and didn't really dare.
The younger chickens spent a large part of the afternoon in front of the house scratching through the small ash tree branches left from the grinder. I got the impression they were eating some of it. I noticed before that the hornets spend a lot of time in those trees as if they were eating something on it also so I wonder if it has some kind of small insect or vegetal appetizing substance.

There was less quarrelling today though Théo did chase Gaston, but he seemed in better terms with Chipie.

Inspecting the tools and wondering what's going on.

Another warm, sunny afternoon

Enjoying melon slices- one the things Théo doesn't tidbit.

I don't know what happened to Merle- first when I saw her like this I thought something frightened her, but it seemed she was in shock or pain as she didn't react when I touched her. Then a few minutes later she was normal again.

Piou-piou hiding pretty well.

 

[lightm]

Three years "arbitrary hatch day".

When we got our six ex-batts Vanille, Blanche, Cannelle, Nougat, Caramel and Brune in January 2020, we weren't told how old they were. They started to lay on the 15 of march (all in the same week). Based on the assumption that they must have been around 5 months then, I decided randomly that the 15th of October would be considered their hatch day.

Three years old is a symbolic if slightly delusional milestone for me. When we got the ex-batts I knew nothing about chickens, high production breeds, the way ex-batts had been bred to lay an egg a day and the reproductive disorders this meant. We learnt this only a few weeks after Vanille started laying and began having serious troubles. I understood then that we wouldn't keep them for long and it became my goal to get them to three years old.
Vanille and Caramel are not here today, but I think I understand better now that if you take in ex-batts, you have to accept that it's best not to focus on the length of the walk, but on the here and now (some life lessons ). So I will give them some scrambled eggs and tuna and the last melons from the greenhouse, and be happy that four of them are with me now .

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Happy three years hatch day! With all the drama between Theo, Chirpie, and Gaston, maybe they'd be well entertained and busy, and live many more years.

I am always so nervous for my production breeds. They are only 1y7m old.

 

[ManueB]

Happy three years hatch day! With all the drama between Theo, Chirpie, and Gaston, maybe they'd be well entertained and busy, and live many more years.

I am always so nervous for my production breeds. They are only 1y7m old.

I also feel more worried for my ex-batts than for my other chickens, but they are older. Then again they have been tough little warriors and at least three survived quite a few times when I counted them dead.
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Chipies days of domination over Gaston are over. They have entered a new phase of fighting. If she behaves like she did with Théo, it will be at least two weeks before she backs down : the size difference is much more important so I hope she doesn't get badly hurt.

The chickens spent most of the day under the laurel tree, hiding from some unknown threat. We worked only half an hour on the run as my partner had to take his father to a medical appointment - on a national transport strike day, counting six hours there and back .
The chickens came out toward foir and free ranged for an hour or two . I didn't find Cannelle , Blanche and Théo in very good shape, molting on the neck now. Chipie was afraid.

Gastounet in the compost. Not sure I did a photo before but it happens all the time.

Hidden

Piou-piou and Léa are more and more alike.

May look like harmony, but it was chaos.

 

[Shadrach]

This afternoon we finally began preparing to cover the run.
We didn't do much as the next project of the day, making 7 kilos of quince paste, seemed to be of higher priority to my partner . We cut half of the tree in front as the branches were in the way, got it out and grinded, dug the three first holes and that was that.
Unfortunately because there are both the house water evacuations and the old irrigation canals in the ground we have very little possibility to dig so we will not be able to enlarge the run as I had hoped.
We got lots of curious looks and some "help". The earth we took out we are using to enlarge the way in front of the run, so that we can still go through with the track barrow. The chickens however had an other idea and kept digging through what I was piling up .

Some not so good things also happened. Théo threatened me this morning and he attacked my partner this afternoon, who sent him flying and gave him a real scare. He hadn't done that for quite some time now. Blanche wasn't doing too good today and yesterday. And, at one point in the day I saw Cannelle's face (between her eyes and nose) rising up and down like Caramel when she had trouble breathing. I didn't see it again and didn't hear anything when I listened to her breathing. She spent some time in the nest box yesterday and today... so I'm preparing myself that she may has EYP too.
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Théo enjoys the sun. He's full of new coming in quilts and feathers, though they are quite hidden.View attachment 3293321
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The chickens tried all kind of ways to spy on what was going on in the run
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Only Brune and Blanche dared come inside
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Good job they said.

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It's very easy to turn into a complete chicken nut job in an environment like that. I know.

 

[Shadrach]

Chipies days of domination over Gaston are over. They have entered a new phase of fighting. If she behaves like she did with Théo, it will be at least two weeks before she backs down : the size difference is much more important so I hope she doesn't get badly hurt.

That brought back some fond memories.They remind me of Harold and Bluespot.
Anyway, the good news is Gaston is just defending in the video. He's not trying to strick back. Harold used to do much the same and unfortunatley I didn't have a camera at the time. It went on and off for years. Blue Spot would rear up at Harold and Harold would just defend until Blue Spot thought she had made her point. He never once attacked her back.
Harold adored Blue Spot and she him but the relationship was pretty stormy.
Hopefully Gaston and Chipies make a similar live long couple.

 

[lightm]

I also feel more worried for my ex-batts than for my other chickens, but they are older. Then again they have been tough little warriors and at least three survived quite a few times when I counted them dead.
-------------------
Chipies days of domination over Gaston are over. They have entered a new phase of fighting. If she behaves like she did with Théo, it will be at least two weeks before she backs down : the size difference is much more important so I hope she doesn't get badly hurt.

The chickens spent most of the day under the laurel tree, hiding from some unknown threat. We worked only half an hour on the run as my partner had to take his father to a medical appointment - on a national transport strike day, counting six hours there and back .
The chickens came out toward foir and free ranged for an hour or two . I didn't find Cannelle , Blanche and Théo in very good shape, molting on the neck now. Chipie was afraid.

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Gastounet in the compost. Not sure I did a photo before but it happens all the time.
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Hidden
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Piou-piou and Léa are more and more alike.
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May look like harmony, but it was chaos.
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Chipie is such a good fighter in this video.

 

[ManueB]

It's very easy to turn into a complete chicken nut job in an environment like that. I know.

Before we came to live here I was addicted to sports, rock climbing then triathlon and ultra trail running. That induced behaviours and actions which would have been called nuts by many, even though I sometimes shared those with small groups of friends. In regard, being obsessed with chicken tv is pretty reasonable and harmless, even if somewhat more lonely and misunderstood .

That brought back some fond memories.They remind me of Harold and Bluespot.
Anyway, the good news is Gaston is just defending in the video. He's not trying to strick back. Harold used to do much the same and unfortunatley I didn't have a camera at the time. It went on and off for years. Blue Spot would rear up at Harold and Harold would just defend until Blue Spot thought she had made her point. He never once attacked her back.
Harold adored Blue Spot and she him but the relationship was pretty stormy.
Hopefully Gaston and Chipies make a similar live long couple.

I'm afraid Chipie isn't looking for love, but for power. She wants a rooster she can dominate. I'm pretty sure she'll go back to Théo now Gaston has broken the spell!

Chipie is such a good fighter in this video.

She never realized how small she is. She took on all of my six ex-batts like this when she arrived here, and they never forgave her !

 

[ManueB]

My partner spent more time working on the run today. He finished the cover part, pretty much on his own. We have also cleaned the water canal, inserted tubes and began pouring concrete. Tomorrow we will finish pouring concrete in the canal to insert the weldmesh in it and close the run. We will still have to fill the parts that are opened to the sky with netting or mesh and to make a new door.

The chickens stayed rather quiet today. The noise my partner made working worried them. We did have a crowing competition in the morning and chasing around between Théo and Gastounet, and some roosting drama tonight. Chipie didn't want anyone next to her, so she pecked Merle and Gaston until Gaston threw her off the roost. Then she went to the first roost she used to sleep on, in front of the coop, but she didn't like that. So she forced her way back on the roost next to Léa, who's the sweetest of the youngest and so the lower in the pecking order, and bullied her pecking her again and again... until they all fell asleep.

Théo standing guard while Nougat lays in the pet carrier outside. ( It used to be in the run).

It was another sunny day.. temperature up to 27/80° .

Théo is now molting from the neck after loosing his whole tail !

Gastounet spent much of the day on his own. Pondering over female behaviour ?

Progress on the run

In the evening

 

[BY Bob]

So maybe some of my wonder comes through the photos

I think you are onto something with this thought. I can feel your wonder in the photos and I feel wonder myself. You live in an amazing place and have an eye for conveying your wonder via your photos. Don't change anything you are doing. It's magic.

 

[ManueB]

We're done with pouring concrete and inserting the mesh in the water canal. My partner won't be available before sunday evening, we'll have to secure the run temporarily : we're going to see my parents on Monday onday and will have to leave the chickens locked up most of the day.

The ex-batts and Théo spent quite a lot of time under cover, especially Cannelle, who had me worried as she seemed to be sleeping more than should be normal. Theo's comb has turned dark again like this summer, and he's obviously in discomfort from molting. He seems to be slowly reconciliating with Chipie, who for once kept a low profile today.

Gaston on the other hand is beginning to show signs of entering the hormonal stage- he chose no one else but tiny Piou-piou for his first attempts at mating . He crowed back and forth with Théo a few times during the day.

Three eggs again today, but still none from Cannelle- and Chipie. Chipie's comb has turned very pale and like Théo she is now molting from head and neck.

Piou-piou's quite independent and still completely human shy. Not only will she refuse to eat from our hand, she runs away just seeing a hand with a treat . She's a good forager though and managed to find the last strawberries.

When Chipie dustbathed, Théo came to see her and did the dance with the wing flapping thing.

Still goofy, Gaston