Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[RoyalChick]

Her green iridescence is wonderful.

Stunning

 

[ManueB]

Manue, this photo is wonderful. May I use it as my computer wallpaper?

Thank you ! I think the definition isn't high enough. I cropped it a bit and the app reduces definition as soon as I retouch a photo.

Her green iridescence is wonderful.

Stunning

Well you both know how black chickens are magic...sometimes you can't even see them on the photo ,and sometimes they shine with all kinds of shimmering colours . I love Merle !

 

[ManueB]

I locked Théo, Chipie and the ex-batts for an hour to go running this morning. When I came back, they were in the coop and didn't want to come out. This means they were scared of something - either hawk or another predator possibly. I went to check everything was fine in the coop and guess what I saw ? Théo mating Chipie ! And it looked like he was successful, which is almost never the case with the ex-batts, as they are too big for him.

Gastounet has changed so much in a week, it's like he turned from a cockerel into a rooster overnight. He's stopped growing upward and now he's growing some bulk. He is still mating only Piou-piou about ten times a day, but tidbits for the other hens and watches over them. He's still a bit clumsy but he's getting better.
There was a really funny moment in the middle of the day when he was scared by something and asked to go back inside the netted zone, to hide in the coop. Ten minutes later, Théo found him and started chasing him around. Gaston was in such a panick he ran straight to the netting and just jumped over it squealing ! His power to weight ratio is impressive.

This morning, Nougat laid again a very strange egg-huge, white, with a very thin porous shell. That was certainly the reason she was looking off yesterday and not too good today. She's began molting from the head and neck now.
On the other hand Cannelle really seems better. She still had moments when she looks very ill, but most of the day she was active and eating. I don't know what to think ! She's in full hard molt mode though, she's loosing her wing's feathers now.

My partner brought some food for the chickens from our elderly neighbour Robert. Everything he doesn't eat he gives us for the hens, but some stuff we throw away without telling him, because his notion of food hygiene is pretty hardcore. This seemed to be polenta with some meat in it, we mixed Nougat's egg with it, and everyone loved it.

Roosting was difficult again. Not because of Chipie who this time moved out to the far right before Gaston went to roost, but because Théo was really decided to jump up and attack Gaston. I finally went to get a stick to restrain him. When he's roosting, he's exactly at the level of my face, so it's kind of akward to go scream at him to stay away from Gaston . He's never shown aggression to me from his roost, but I suppose putting your face a few centimeters from a very angry if small rooster is not the smartest thing to do.

Koffee Klatch began by Gastounet's greetings

Nougat looked not too good, but she's eating and acting relatively normally most of the time.

Food party. Gaston's gang, Théo's team, and Chipie gets her individual spoon as she's rejected by both groups.

This is... a huge cockerel mating a runt pullet.

Piou-piou is so cute ( but so hostile to humans).

I think there is a likeness in Grochatila's and Merle's look. Wisdom of magical jaded creatures?

 

[lightm]

Thank you so much for taking the time to go through Andre's story again. It's very significant for me at this time! I'm glad the choices you made for him seem to work out, and it gives me hope that I will be able to find a solution for our situation. It would be a lot easier if my partner was convinced and had the same attachment to the roosters than I do, but that's the way it goes. I'll tell him the story of André . My step-father says his wife would like to take in one of the rooster but they don't let their chicken free range, it would be like sending one of them to prison. And I'm sure she has even less idea than I did when I got Théo, what it means to have a rooster in a flock.
It wouldn't need a lot of time and work to build a very simple coop, but I'm so unskilled with any manual work that I'm not sure I would be able to do it on my own.
*********
I'm glad to say although there was a lot of tension at roosting time and Chipie got thrown out once of the roost by Gaston, there was no actual fighting, maybe because my partner was locking them up and both roosters are more afraid of him than of me. Chipie jumped on Théo 's roost and collided into him, I was hoping she would stay with him but no, she got back on the upper roost next to Merle. And that was it for the night.

Cannelle had been doing better yesterday, but today was not good. Théo probably knows something is wrong because he doesn't bother her like he does the other hens.

A territorial frontier : Theo's gang inside the chicken net, Gastounet's just on the other side.
View attachment 3306750
View attachment 3306752
Piou-piou is way too small for Gastounet who tried to mate her several times today. It's a good thing she crouched and flattens completely to the ground because if she struggled he would probably really hurt her. She likes him for now and hangs out a lot more with him than Léa and Merle.

View attachment 3306751View attachment 3306754View attachment 3306755View attachment 3306756
Cannelle stayed under cover most of the day and ate almost nothing.
View attachment 3306757View attachment 3306758View attachment 3306759

Isn't your step-father's wife your mom? Am I completely wrong here...

 

[lightm]

I locked Théo, Chipie and the ex-batts for an hour to go running this morning. When I came back, they were in the coop and didn't want to come out. This means they were scared of something - either hawk or another predator possibly. I went to check everything was fine in the coop and guess what I saw ? Théo mating Chipie ! And it looked like he was successful, which is almost never the case with the ex-batts, as they are too big for him.

Gastounet has changed so much in a week, it's like he turned from a cockerel into a rooster overnight. He's stopped growing upward and now he's growing some bulk. He is still mating only Piou-piou about ten times a day, but tidbits for the other hens and watches over them. He's still a bit clumsy but he's getting better.
There was a really funny moment in the middle of the day when he was scared by something and asked to go back inside the netted zone, to hide in the coop. Ten minutes later, Théo found him and started chasing him around. Gaston was in such a panick he ran straight to the netting and just jumped over it squealing ! His power to weight ratio is impressive.

This morning, Nougat laid again a very strange egg-huge, white, with a very thin porous shell. That was certainly the reason she was looking off yesterday and not too good today. She's began molting from the head and neck now.
On the other hand Cannelle really seems better. She still had moments when she looks very ill, but most of the day she was active and eating. I don't know what to think ! She's in full hard molt mode though, she's loosing her wing's feathers now.

My partner brought some food for the chickens from our elderly neighbour Robert. Everything he doesn't eat he gives us for the hens, but some stuff we throw away without telling him, because his notion of food hygiene is pretty hardcore. This seemed to be polenta with some meat in it, we mixed Nougat's egg with it, and everyone loved it.

Roosting was difficult again. Not because of Chipie who this time moved out to the far right before Gaston went to roost, but because Théo was really decided to jump up and attack Gaston. I finally went to get a stick to restrain him. When he's roosting, he's exactly at the level of my face, so it's kind of akward to go scream at him to stay away from Gaston . He's never shown aggression to me from his roost, but I suppose putting your face a few centimeters from a very angry if small rooster is not the smartest thing to do.

Koffee Klatch began by Gastounet's greetings
View attachment 3310054
Nougat looked not too good, but she's eating and acting relatively normally most of the time.
View attachment 3310045
View attachment 3310053
Food party. Gaston's gang, Théo's team, and Chipie gets her individual spoon as she's rejected by both groups.
View attachment 3310035View attachment 3310036View attachment 3310038View attachment 3310046
This is... a huge cockerel mating a runt pullet.
View attachment 3310055
View attachment 3310056
Piou-piou is so cute ( but so hostile to humans).
View attachment 3310051
I think there is a likeness in Grochatila's and Merle's look. Wisdom of magical jaded creatures?
View attachment 3310050
View attachment 3310041

Happy to hear good news on Cannelle.

 

[fuentemoon]

I believe if i have followed family news correctly she means in law vs step.

 

[ManueB]

Isn't your step-father's wife your mom? Am I completely wrong here...

I believe if i have followed family news correctly she means in law vs step.

Yes definitely a language mistake! Thank you for pointing it out to me.
My partner 's parents are divorced and both are married again, I was talking about my partner's father's second wife.
So I'm not sure I should call her my mother in law. Even in french I'm not sure what to call her and my partner's mother second husband !

 

[Perris]

Even in french I'm not sure what to call her and my partner's mother second husband !

is there an equivalent to 'extended family' ? That covers most eventualities in English

 

[fuentemoon]

Yes definitely a language mistake! Thank you for pointing it out to me.
My partner 's parents are divorced and both are married again, I was talking about my partner's father's second wife.
So I'm not sure I should call her my mother in law. Even in french I'm not sure what to call her and my partner's mother second husband

I totally understand, I also have complicated extended family.

 

[ManueB]

is there an equivalent to 'extended family' ? That covers most eventualities in English

Same expression, "famille élargie" ! But..my partner and I are not married..and I still have a husband somewhere from when I was 20 something with whom we never divorced . So I'm not even sure I could use 'extended family ' !