Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[Shadrach]

Your weather looks like ours today. It barely reached 43F/6C all day. In less gloomy news, Gastounet gets better looking by the day. He's so handsome.


By this logic, is your presence supposed to be the cause of the conflicts? I'd peck my partner, too, if he told me this

Joking aside, I think a lot about the ways I contribute to interactions between the chickens and how they'd act if I didn't intervene. Other times, I've felt it was only right to keep birds from injuring each other because I arranged the accommodations that put them in conflict in the first place.

At the end of the day, roosters are gonna rooster, and when they do, it gets ugly fast. I'd keep going with your gut and acting as Coop Security Staff. It's tiring but temporary, and in the meantime, you might prevent serious injury to the boys and to little Chipie.

I've been loading favorite videos to share, and this one seems germane: Merle's morning "roo-tine." It's not necessary since Merle's matured, but he's still trained to leave the run first thing each morning. I close the door behind him for a couple minutes as the hens come down and stretch and wake up. In the meantime, Merle dances out his restless energy and says "good morning" to Andre and Stilton, who wait by the fences for him. They seem to relish the complexities of their cold war.

Hang on to that video. It shows what fence fighting looks like really well.

 

[RoyalChick]

I found a slightly broken egg under the roost when opening the coop this morning, probably from Brune, and another egg where Blanche usually lays. I thought Piou-piou wasn't going to lay as the days before she had always been an early layer but she did go in the barn a bit later with Gaston proudly guarding the entrance. He then convinced his whole team to take a tour of the barn.

Today was a raptor's day : the couple of eagles, the gallicus hawk, and the sparrowhawk all spent some time flying above- until the middle of the afternoon. The ex-batts stayed in the coop for quite a while and then they hid under the laurel tree. I noticed that Merle and Léa stayed with Gaston, whereas they usually run back inside the chicken nettings when there is a threat : they all hid under our eating table. My partner put a steel sheet just behind it under the linden tree so they could have some cover, but they think it's a perch and only use it from above .

They did have a few care free hours in the afternoon. Cannelle is definitely doing better but now she has a hoarse voice.

This evening I got the confirmation that Gastounet is a Jekyll/ Hyde personality. I managed to get him and the girls in the coop where Chipie and Nougat were already half asleep. I don't know what he said to them : I couldn't see any threatening attitude from where I was, but they were both terrified. Chipie flew out of the coop, Nougat went down the ladder and in the run to hide behind the structure my partner made. Chipie perched on the coop's door calling alarm. Then, she came back in and perched on the free roost I've talking about at last- the one where I wanted her to perch all along, because once she's on it she's hidden from the sight of the other roosting chickens. She only stopped calling alert when Théo checked on her , then she made a sort of small plea. I wonder if she was asking him to roost next to her ?

Anyway, Théo went on his usual roost rather quietly, then the three other ex-batts came in and roosted, and Nougat was still hiding terrified outside. She was making a soft cry, it was really sad to see her like this. I got her to go inside the coop and she hopped on the platform where Blanche lays and hid in the straw in a corner.
I don't know if she was terrified or feeling ill. The only night ever that she didn't roost up on the ladder was when she had a soft shelled egg coming. I checked on her an hour later and it did look like she was in a laying posture. She's molting so badly however that I'm not sure what's going on .

So, Gastounet is a sweetheart with his ladies, but a psychopath with Theo's ? But he mated Blanche and Brune and they are not afraid of him like this. Maybe it's the hens that resisted being mated that he terrorizes. But with Merle, Léa and Piou-piou he really doesn't insist when they don't want to mate and he's so attentive! I don't know what to make of it.

In the morning. In front of the barn.
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Noticed for the first time how Merle perches on her belly!
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Curiously Chipie is still on friendly terms with Merle and Léa, they hang out with her when they go inside the chicken nettings. She can't go outside however as Gastounet threatens to kill her when she does.
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He was very angry at me for letting Gaston in the coop tonight... but now I'm wondering if he's not just protecting his hens ?
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Gaston got a long dustbath, for the first time in days.
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A lovely afternoon.
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Merle

 

[lightm]

The donkey was one of three males, Cumba. I agree he's beautiful!
My neighbor sold all her donkeys a few months ago. I wrote a post about them on FBA. She hadn't halter trained any of them and they got out of control and kept escaping. And, she didn't have access to enough pastures to keep both the donkeys and the cows.
*********
Brune passed a piece of egg shell during the night and she was back to her normal self today ! I'm really relieved. In fact she laid a normal egg in the morning. I hope this was a one shot thing as she has never had laying problems before.
Both Cannelle and Nougat still looked pretty miserable but I think Cannelle's molt should soon be over now.

We harvested walnuts for the first year from a walnut tree my partner planted eleven years ago, that he took from his grandma's place when she died.
The chickens helped us. Merle and Gaston love walnuts!

Piou-piou laid again in the barn. I left the first egg so she wouldn't be tempted to find another nest elsewhere that I would have to look for everywhere. We didn't see her, but in the afternoon my partner found a new egg.
Blanche also laid before I opened the coop. And Léa's leg seemed a lot better.View attachment 3321825View attachment 3321826View attachment 3321828View attachment 3321831View attachment 3321832
Running in the mountains this morning. The larches have started to turn orange in the last few days. It's beginning to feel like fall at last - we should get a week of storm and hopefully some snow next week!
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So happy to learn that Brune passed the egg shell!!!

 

[lightm]

Weather is turning grey and slightly colder. The two molters Cannelle and Nougat certainly don't seem to enjoy it. They took a bit longer to leave the coop this morning than usual, but in the day neither went back in. We're supposed to get strong rain tonight and tomorrow and seen how the temperature is dropping maybe we'll get a bit of snow.

I mentioned the other day that we saw sticky fleas on Gastounet's wattles. I tried to take them off again a few days ago, and it turns out it's not sticky fleas but black dots and scabs. I don't understand where this comes from as he's not being pecked at. It doesn't look like pox either from the pictures I've seen. I'm not sure if I should put anything on it since I've no clues what it is.

Poor Chipie has the worse of the actual situation. She's badly bullied by the ex-batts, Gaston terrorizes her now, and Théo doesn't really protect her and sometimes even drives her away.

Tonight when Gaston went to roost he made some kind of noise which must have meant a death threat, because she flew away from her roost and outside the coop, and perched in the run making low alert calls. She only came back in when it was dark enough that he couldn't really see her.
Then the ex-batts came to roost and Nougat threw Chipie away from her place, and went to roost in her place! That may have been because for the first time Piou-piou decided to try sleeping on the roost with her squad instead of in her nest. So Nougat found herself between Piou-piou and Chipie, and that was not bearable . So Chipie had to find a new place to roost and she landed on the roost below where she used to be, next to Cannelle, who wasn't happy about it either.

This was going on for too long so I closed the big door we don't use that puts the whole coop in the dark, and that got them quiet.

Cannelle has grown some feathers back but her comb and crests are still very pale. She has ongoing diarrhea and has many moments looking ill.
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View attachment 3322634View attachment 3322635View attachment 3322636View attachment 3322637View attachment 3322638I could change my mind and enter Gastounet's head in the beauty contest @Perris View attachment 3322639View attachment 3322641View attachment 3322642View attachment 3322644
Since she has become Gastounet's sweetheart and started laying, I find Piou-piou's turning into a little lady. It even looks like she has make up on with her bright crest and her white earlobe
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Last week Foxy and Meimei both had "dirty combs", much like waht you described about Gaston. I feel like it is some kind of fungal issue that can self-heal?

 

[HiEverybirdy]

Hang on to that video. It shows what fence fighting looks like really well.

Wow, not sure how I missed discussions of fence fighting until now. Luckily, BYC has a good search, and ["fence fighting" by member: Shadrach] offers a good primer. Very cool.

These 2 would fight if in the same yard. However, while we've always had supplies ready to add a visual barrier to their fence, it hasn't been needed. Posturing lasts < a minute with hackle flashing and ground pecking. Their feet don't leave the ground.

Otherwise, they might dustbathe, nap, preen, and forage practically next to each other with the fence between. The best part: when the gate's open, the guys avoid it. Merle's Girls might trot into Stilton's yard, but he won't follow unless Stilton's closed in his run.

A select number of Stilton's Hens and Merle's Girls fence fight, but they ignore each other when ranging together. If not, the rooster on duty can be trusted to diffuse the tension.

The cold-war rituals are different with Merle's brother Andre, who lives behind netting. The guys will fight through one layer of netting. With 2 layers, they do "fencercize." Stilton and Andre would be heartbroken to miss their fence-citement! It keeps them fit.

Note that when chickens are in the grass yard, all fence electricity is off and they're supervised, because they can easily fly over these nets (but it's rare).

It's common to witness cold-war diplomatic discussions sans fencercize as well.

@ManueB - let me know what kind of tax you want for this tangent Even though I blame @Shadrach for it.

 

[ManueB]

Do the Catalan and Spanish donkeys get on?

They were provence and corsican which could also make a complicated relationship! But they got really well along as a herd, especially considering there were three males. Their owner found a buyer for the females only first. Kinder was only one year old when his mum left, I never heard a donkey cry like he did for weeks, it was heartbreaking. And with only the three males left it was chaos, they fought all the time and kept escaping. She then found a family that bought the three of them for their kids.

Merle

She's very daring, she's sleek, she's a good flyer and she likes humans, which is rather rare at my place . And she's black . I feel kind of sad to say this because you said it of Bella, but she's my dream chicken.

So happy to learn that Brune passed the egg shell!!!

I'm glad you remind me of this. That was a source of worry that resolved itself- it's so nice when it works out this way ! Sometime I tend to feel that every day brings new problems .

Last week Foxy and Meimei both had "dirty combs", much like waht you described about Gaston. I feel like it is some kind of fungal issue that can self-heal?

It really seems like dry pox, but I read everywhere that pox is supposed to start with a cream color. I checked again today and I'm sure it's scabs even though most of them are just dots. There's not more of them, but they are not going away. But maybe you're right and they can have other begnin issues I don't know about.

Wow, not sure how I missed discussions of fence fighting until now. Luckily, BYC has a good search, and ["fence fighting" by member: Shadrach] offers a good primer. Very cool.

These 2 would fight if in the same yard. However, while we've always had supplies ready to add a visual barrier to their fence, it hasn't been needed. Posturing lasts < a minute with hackle flashing and ground pecking. Their feet don't leave the ground.

Otherwise, they might dustbathe, nap, preen, and forage practically next to each other with the fence between. The best part: when the gate's open, the guys avoid it. Merle's Girls might trot into Stilton's yard, but he won't follow unless Stilton's closed in his run.

A select number of Stilton's Hens and Merle's Girls fence fight, but they ignore each other when ranging together. If not, the rooster on duty can be trusted to diffuse the tension.

The cold-war rituals are different with Merle's brother Andre, who lives behind netting. The guys will fight through one layer of netting. With 2 layers, they do "fencercize." Stilton and Andre would be heartbroken to miss their fence-citement! It keeps them fit.

Note that when chickens are in the grass yard, all fence electricity is off and they're supervised, because they can easily fly over these nets (but it's rare).

It's common to witness cold-war diplomatic discussions sans fencercize as well.
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@ManueB - let me know what kind of tax you want for this tangent Even though I blame @Shadrach for it.

It's not a tangent, since the issue of how to make rooster co-exist is my main question in life at this time . Another cool video ! I can see in my case that the netting plays some kind of important symbolic frontier role. Théo actually almost never crosses it now even though he can, as if he thinks the other side belong to Gaston. A bit like you say that when the gate is open they will avoid it.
Gaston is still too afraid of Théo so they don't have that kind of interaction through the net, but I'm sure it will happen. I'll look up the posts, thanks .
I agree that the search engine on BYC is pretty good. I just wished it was possible to sort by date without using the advanced search, as the advanced search doesn't allow you to search only the thread you're reading, which is a really nice feature. Sorry, ex-librarian tangent .

 

[RoyalChick]

Merle is lovely and I am very happy she is your dream chicken.
Maybe one day I will have another black chicken.

 

[ManueB]

Nougat
I was worried how I would find Nougat. She was the first out of the coop and I freaked out when I saw there was no poop where she was nested- but just then she did a huge poop ! So I guess just like Piou-piou didn't poop when she had laid an egg at night, Nougat didn't poop because she wanted to sleep in clean straw ?
She acted very off today but like I would expect a hard molter to - isolating herself often, afraid of everything and everyone, loosing her voice. She still eats a bit of layer feed. Last year she had a long period when she spent the whole day hiding, although she was barely molting. She looks extremely unconfortable and hopefully it won't last too long.
Cannelle wasn't looking or doing good either.

Changes coming
I was in for a big surprise today.
Piou-piou and Léa had a huge fight!

I didn't see the beginning, but got the impression that Piou-piou was the aggressor. However, when Léa walked away she left Piou-piou with a bloody face. Blood was dripping around! I tricked Piou-piou with the little pot of sunflowerseeds and caught her to take her inside. After cleaning up I was relieved to see it was only the comb, but she kept on bleeding for a while. She didn't seem to care at all.

Léa and Piou-piou avoided each other most of the day. Léa stayed inside the chicken net and for the first time I saw Théo making a wing thing at her half-heartedly, which sent her running away.
In the evening she hung out in the garden with Merle while Piou-piou and Gaston stayed together. Léa was the first to go in the coop and she went on Chipie's roost ! However once Gaston came in and was on his roost she changed her mind or he called her, I don't know, and she went back on her usual roost. Chipie was making very quiet clucking sounds , I suppose telling her to stay ! Léa switched place so that she was next to Gaston, and as far as possible from Piou-piou.

My hypothesis is that she will lay soon and that Gaston is now trying to mate her, and Piou-piou is jealous. But that's probably a bit too far-fetched and anthropomorphic .

The two molters. Cannelle's comb is so pale.

Nougat hides behind "The Things".

Little thug. She must bleed a lot because the scab is small.

Strange couples

 

[ManueB]

It's official - Piou-piou is the new queen bully of the universe. She attacked Merle and Léa today. And, she has a piece of comb missing from yesterday's fight- she looks like she belongs to a girl gang.
Unfortunately Léa found herself next to her on the roost and though she tried a last minute escape she couldn't manage to get away. I closed the coop's door hearing her crying while Piou-piou was pecking her ! Piou-piou's turning just like Chipie.

Only Piou-piou laid today but everyone did good. Nougat's feathers are coming in really quickly and tonight she went back to sleep on the upper roost. We finally had 0° this morning but quite a nice sunshine and no wind during the day.
Both Gastounet's comb and Théo's legs are worrying though, they look worse.

 

[RoyalChick]

It's official - Piou-piou is the new queen bully of the universe. She attacked Merle and Léa today. And, she has a piece of comb missing from yesterday's fight- she looks like she belongs to a girl gang.
Unfortunately Léa found herself next to her on the roost and though she tried a last minute escape she couldn't manage to get away. I closed the coop's door hearing her crying while Piou-piou was pecking her ! Piou-piou's turning just like Chipie.

Only Piou-piou laid today but everyone did good. Nougat's feathers are coming in really quickly and tonight she went back to sleep on the upper roost. We finally had 0° this morning but quite a nice sunshine and no wind during the day.
Both Gastounet's comb and Théo's legs are worrying though, they look worse.
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What do you see wrong with Gaston's comb? It looks great in your pictures of him.