Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[RoyalChick]

which explains why it's our national veg
View attachment 3616469

And very delicious it is too!

 

[GregnLety]

But its very difficult to get a permit and to hunt them down. The population kept expanding until 2 years ago. In the cold winter we had back then, the hunters managed to kill about half the wild boar population.

@BDutch Here in the states the wildlife biologists say that you must kill 80 percent of the wild boar population in order to keep the population in check. Once a sow reaches 6 months old she starts breeding and has 2 or 3 litters of piglets every year. These litters average 10 or more piglets. This may or may not correlate wild hogs in Europe. I do not believe in killing for the sake of Killing but in the case of wild hogs in Texas, it is very necessary.

Taxes, the turkeys figured out how to fly

 

[RoyalChick]

@BDutch Here in the states the wildlife biologists say that you must kill 80 percent of the wild boar population in order to keep the population in check. Once a sow reaches 6 months old she starts breeding and has 2 or 3 litters of piglets every year. These litters average 10 or more piglets. This may or may not correlate wild hogs in Europe. I do not believe in killing for the sake of Killing but in the case of wild hogs in Texas, it is very necessary.

Taxes, the turkeys figured out how to flyView attachment 3616500

Luckily we don’t have a wild boar problem here - I gather they can be devastatingly destructive and are also dangerous.
Here is is white tailed deer. They are dangerous in the highways and we are encouraged to allow hunters onto our property to help manage the population.
I feel sausage is the answer to both problems!

 

[BDutch]

And very delicious it is too!

And giving stomachs/intestines pains if I eat too much.

Here in the states the wildlife biologists say that you must kill 80 percent of the wild boar population in order to keep the population in check.

I never heard biologist here say this. But the people against shooting and the ones in favour always disagree.
About the newly established wolves there are arguments too. People with sheep and farmers in general say the wolves kill sheep and should be shot, but the biologist and a research group claim its good for a natural status quo and far out most sheep get killed by dogs, not by wolves.

 

[Sequel]

which explains why it's our national veg
View attachment 3616469

Now I’ve seen everything! I love it!

 

[ManueB]

Sorry for the confusion between leeks and leaks . That's what happens when I don't check my posts!

Boars are also a major problem here, and in many parts of France. They are invading cities as well. In Nice, they had administrative hunts in the city's bigger parks once a year. In the one I used to go running in the morning, they killed 60 boars the last year I was there, in only 60 acres ! Here it's a bit controversial as the hunters leave corn in feeders for game, and people who don't hunt accuse them of feeding mainly the boars .
No one here contest that the boars are a nuisance. The wolf presence is a heated debate, but there is too much to say to start on that!

@ManueB
I am sorry about the heat wave. 38c is hot! but it cools down a bit during the night due to your altitude, right? I hope Blanche makes it and surprise you again.

I realize i’m complaining for what is just normal summer temperatures in many places. The warmer we ever get is 32 /90, so that makes a big difference for us, and I don't handle heat well. Yes, it cools at night, but mostly at dawn, toward 4, down to 22/71. We’re lucky, in Nice it's staying in the 90 at night though it's not as hot during the day.

are you still struggling with worms?

Well, not me to the best of my knowledge, but the chickens, yes.

I was reminded of this homebrew
https://www.fresheggsdaily.blog/2012/04/pumpkin-soup-nasturtiums-natural.html which you might want to try? This is the right time of year for quite a few of the foods she's recommending. On nasturtiums btw I recently discovered that (as wet plant tissue, so as foraged) they're packed with vit A (nearly twice as much as raw kale), and have half as much again calcium as has dandelion.

Nasturtiums are the same stories for me as borage. I love them, I keep trying to grow them, and it's always a failure. I think next year i’m going to grow them in a pot because that's the only way I succeed in having more than two or three .
While it was really hot today, I went through a vet thesis on the history of veterinary anthelmintics from the 70s to now. While it was too global to be of practical use for my chickens it was extremely interesting as it covered many aspects : legal and administrative, availability and convenience of use of different products, toxicity both for animals and for humans consuming them but also administrating those products, environmental considerations, efficiency and resistance..I learned many things I didn't know, and realized things are much more complex than I imagined. For example, not all products cause equal harm to the environment which seem obvious, but I learnt it also depends on the animal to which the medication is administered, and it's form : typically individual injection cause much less damage as the amount needed can be very precisely targeted to the minimum that will be efficient.
The conclusion tried to open perspectives for the future : the idea was that management of internal parasites can not solely depend on the finding of new molecules, whether plant derived or synthetic. The emphasis will be on integrated management that take in account the animal's environment (larger pastures and rotation), genetics (there is a genetic sensibility to worms and coccidies), biosecurity, biological control using bacterias or predators of the parasites, environmental issues, so that worming can occur very discriminately, only when necessary. Anyway I won't go through all the things I discovered as it would be tedious, but sometimes it's interesting and refreshing to take a step back and look at things from farther away.

Back to the chickens des Sauches. But first I’ve got to say that the lace trap did not catch the boar, it managed to make it's way around it. It did not cause more damage, but we saw where it went. My partner is moving things around for tonight.
I think the chickens have got the cue now about what they have to do to survive the heat. We’ve been putting the hose for them more between one and three and they stay with their feet in the running water as long as the hose is on, the leghorns even lie down in it.
We looked again at Nieva’s bumblefeet today. The foot where I took out the scab and some white liquid yesterday looks slightly better, both feet are still swollen and hot though. My partner should go hiking until friday, so if she’s not better in two days I’ll try to get a vet appointment for the beginning of next week.
The broodies, Léa and Merle, are still trying to sit. I locked the coop most of the day but that wasn't enough to get them out of it. And at six, we had the heavenly and unexpected surprise of a thunderstorm with a bit of rain ! The weather app sent me a warning "strong rain in ten minutes" and we just had time to bring all the bags of chicken feed my partner went to buy today ! It didn't last long but the temperature dropped to 28 and it was very welcome .

 

[Perris]

I went through a vet thesis on the history of veterinary anthelmintics from the 70s to now

I hope your chickens appreciate your dedication to the cause! Thanks for the summary, it was very interesting.

 

[GregnLety]

@BDutch Here in the states the wildlife biologists say that you must kill 80 percent of the wild boar population in order to keep the population in check. Once a sow reaches 6 months old she starts breeding and has 2 or 3 litters of piglets every year. These litters average 10 or more piglets. This may or may not correlate wild hogs in Europe. I do not believe in killing for the sake of Killing but in the case of wild hogs in Texas, it is very necessary.

Taxes, the turkeys figured out how to flyView attachment 3616500

And now they're learning to swim

 

[BDutch]

welcome .

This is an amazing photo!
Do enter it in a contest somewhere or in the POW submissions.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...on-submissions.1345170/page-966#post-27123964

 

[ManueB]

I hope your chickens appreciate your dedication to the cause! Thanks for the summary, it was very interesting.

I wish I had the energy to do a real summary, but it's harder for me to translate in English, and my brain is totally fried with the heat !
I think my chickens prefer food to dedication.

And now they're learning to swim View attachment 3616861

Incredible!
Are these pet turkeys, or do you end up eating them ? (Hope it's not offensive to ask!)
*****
Molting has truly begun- the coop is covered in feathers, though it doesn't really show on the chickens yet!
It made me realise we will be in september in one week. If Blanche is still alive, my last three ex-batts will have made it to september - I never imagined they would. For me it's obvious that the heat makes a huge difference. We had a relatively cool summer up to this heat wave, except for one week in July.

Today was bad until four, but then we had a dry thunderstorm that made the temperature drop from 37 to 27 (98.5 to 80.5 ) much better! Apart from Blanche who looks like she could die any day, Cannelle is also beginning to look not very well from the heat. I don't think she healed completely from whatever she had at the beginning of summer. She does perk up when it gets cooler. She hasn't laid for more than two weeks now whereas she had began laying regularly again.

The pooshoons are having more and more interactions with the grown ups and it's fun to watch. For now the two roosters are pretty tolerant with the cockerels, even when they try to mate with the adult hens, not sure how long it will last. Pied beau attempted his first cocorico today ! During the day the younger pooshoons stay outside, but they always spend a bit of time right on the other side of the netting, where the smaller hens usually join them, Piou-piou, Chipie, and Merle eventually.
For the time being however Merle and Léa still stay close to the coop and come running at me each time I go near, hoping I’ll open the door and let them go to their nest. At roost time, as soon as I open the coop they still run in and I have to take them off. Hope they get out of it in a few days.

Morning pics had a much nicer light than in the afternoon!

Just like their predecessors last year they have found out about the grapes and how to fly on the vine to get them.

Reading Nice Matin on the phone