Théo and the chickens des Sauches

ManueB · Sep 8, 2023

And i’ve just discovered that Piou-piou is wounded again under the wing, it must have happened this morning. It's sufficiently open to need to isolate her again.
If it's not a message from who or whatever to shut my mouth more....

Perris · Sep 8, 2023

ManueB said:
The boar came back tonight and solved my zucchini problem

I hope it didn't do too much damage while it was there.

ManueB · Sep 8, 2023

Perris said:
I hope it didn't do too much damage while it was there.

It destroyed half the zucchinis, dug up the 200 baby leeks my partner had replanted, dug up the row of older leeks ( most of them are good to eat now anyway) and dug up another row where he had seeded black radishes and carrots. I managed to save and replant most of the baby leeks. I went round most of the property 's fence this morning and I can see where he got out, but not where he got in.

I will take a weekend break from updating the thread, i’m feeling a bit upset from this and that and some other rotten life small things, so i’ll be back when i’m in a better mood.

For the record here are the pictures of Nieva’s bumblefeet Tuesday evening (they were worse yesterday) and Piou-piou’s wound this morning. Putting them under a spoiler for people having breakfast while reading but they are not extreme.

Piou-piou 's wound. A bit less than two cm long.

Nieva’s feet.

Other side, which looks worse on the picture but is actually less swollen and not abnormally warm

lightm · Sep 8, 2023

I am so sorry about the boar's damage. Piou-Piou's wound is worrisome too given it was good for a while. And there is Nieva's bumble feet

.

Please take your time. Perhaps you are pleased to know that Honey is still improving. She is eating more and is more active. She is still only 10% of her usual appetite though.

GregnLety · Sep 8, 2023

Taking a break from everything and everyone is sometimes necessary. I pray for your sick babies. Enjoy your weekend, I hope you come back smiling and refreshed

BDutch · Sep 8, 2023

Just sending some love to the south and over the Alps. I do understand things like damaging boars and wounded chickens can make you feel miserable. Hope you feel better soon and will say hi again.

RoyalChick · Sep 8, 2023

ManueB said:
It destroyed half the zucchinis, dug up the 200 baby leeks my partner had replanted, dug up the row of older leeks ( most of them are good to eat now anyway) and dug up another row where he had seeded black radishes and carrots. I managed to save and replant most of the baby leeks. I went round most of the property 's fence this morning and I can see where he got out, but not where he got in.

I will take a weekend break from updating the thread, i’m feeling a bit upset from this and that and some other rotten life small things, so i’ll be back when i’m in a better mood.

For the record here are the pictures of Nieva’s bumblefeet Tuesday evening (they were worse yesterday) and Piou-piou’s wound this morning. Putting them under a spoiler for people having breakfast while reading but they are not extreme.

Piou-piou 's wound. A bit less than two cm long.
View attachment 3630716
Nieva’s feet.
View attachment 3630712
View attachment 3630714
Other side, which looks worse on the picture but is actually less swollen and not abnormally warm
View attachment 3630715

Oh I am sorry. That feels like a lot to handle.

MaryJanet · Sep 8, 2023

Hoping everything comes right for you, the garden, the bumble feet, and Piou-piou. Your life is very full of challenges.

The peacharine has pushed its blossoms out and this seems like a good moment to show them. They carry a lot of poetry and metaphor.

ManueB · Sep 11, 2023

lightm said:
Perhaps you are pleased to know that Honey is still improving. She is eating more and is more active. She is still only 10% of her usual appetite though.

I am ! I hoped she would, even though one can never be sure. I think reproductive disease doesn't really go away, especially for production layers, but it can leave them quite some time of respite. Blanche had massive problems laying her first year and she is still around, and likely she will die from her eye wound. And maybe treating with antibiotics, which I didn't do for my ex-batts, gives Honey more chance.

Thanks for all the kind words! I’m not feeling really anxious like I have been before, just a bit worried. We had a good weekend after my partner was working long hours last week, and it's always nicer and easier for me when he’s home. It was his 50 birthday yesterday, but we stayed at home resting and just made a nice dinner.

Piou-piou’s wound should heal by itself if no rooster insists to mate her until then, but we don't have the heart to keep her locked up. She doesn't feel unwell at all, and she pecks at her wound continuously when we try keeping her isolated.
I think what happened is that she and Gaston were the first to get down in the morning before I opened the coop, which I was a bit late to do, and so she could not escape from him in the run. Normally this never happens because I put her on the back roost, so she can't get down before all the chickens on the main roost have, but this one night she was next to Gaston and I didn't imagine that it would lead to this.

Most of the chickens are doing rather well, but we are getting closer to full molting now. Chipie is the most advanced through the process, she has no wings anymore, but she handles herself quite gracefully and doesn't seem unwell .
They still have a lot of tapeworm / cestode segments in their poops. I’ve ordered the DT. I also came upon a vet thesis on the use of anthelmintics essential oils, it's a review of many articles and experiments on the subject, normalizing them so as to compare results. I think I will also give it a try, I am quite used to treating myself with EOs and I have some of those that could be useful without taking too much risk. There was some very interesting information about toxicity. Apparently one of the most effective plant is a type of chenopode ( the EO is forbidden here) that is extremely efficient but also toxic very close to the dosage required for efficiency, so much that in Morocco where it is widely used it has become a public health issue.
This made me think of fern, which i’ve also seen mentioned several times as an efficient anthelmintics for livestock. When I used to ride as a kid there was a lot of it in the nearby forest and our instructors were always paranoid that we shouldn't let the horse graze on it as they considered it extremely toxic !
But if you think of it, many of the medications and modern treatments also require a precise dosing and some can have side effects and actually be dangerous if not used appropriately. I don't know why we are surprised and shocked that it would be the same with more natural remedies.

Last evening, Alba laid a strange soft shell egg which unfortunately the chickens found and gobbled before I had a chance to scoop it out. She was quite unwell after. We had to tend to her feet then, and I finally understood why people on BYC sometimes say it's easy to care for bumblefoot- sure, it is, with a chicken that doesn't move and struggle constantly ! This morning she was still a bit off, but she seemed better during the day. She ate a lot of crushed eggshells so possibly she felt a lack of calcium.

Tomorrow my partner is taking Nieva down to get her feet debrided. I think they have gotten a bit better, but Alba have gotten a bit worse when I thought she would be over it. It's up and down and everytime I think they look better, it seems there is a relapse. Unfortunately they both seem to sort of jump around and make hazardous flies between roosts and do everything to hurt themselves.

And finally we sort of lost the battle to the boar. We blocked two of his entrances but he found other ways to get in. He destroyed the last courgettes and a tomato plant. But we found out that he favours wet ground to dig in and up to now this has saved the baby leeks, we water them in the morning so the ground is dry at night. Now that hunting season has began my partner is going to ask my neighbour to track him. They used to kill a lot of game on the property and they weren't happy when we fenced the whole of it.