Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[BDutch]

I turned 46 today. It wasn't a bad year and it wasn't a very good one either.

Belated congratulations. Hope this year will be better for you, your partner, the garden and all the animals on your premises.

 

[GregnLety]

Yes, you are right, and it's what I usually do.
Still it bothers me to be owing to him living here for free as I know that through his lense, money is a very important issue. My partner thinks we don't owe him a thing because we invest money to care for this place we will never own. I could try to say I will set money aside and his father and him can decide what use they make of it for the place ; maybe that would feel acceptable to both.
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I turned 46 today. It wasn't a bad year and it wasn't a very good one either. Not much really memorable in fact. Chicken wise it was stressful in the beginning when the two roosters kept fighting and we fought about them with my partner, and then when Piou-piou got wounded. And of course when I didn't manage to euthanize Brune correctly. But the last months have felt better, even with that. Going from 10 to 20 (now 18) helped. Watching the chicks grow and run around has been a joy, and while the new pullets were not healthy, they adjusted very well. The chickens have many annoying health issues, but they don't seem to be doing that badly watching their overall state. I expect Blanche will not last much longer but i’m actually amazed she’s still here. Next week, it will be the three ex-batt's fictitious fourth birthday .

I am still feeling a bit overwhelmed with all those chickens and not sure I will want to go on with chicken keeping. But I find that it's difficult for me to re-home chickens, letting them go and all that, so I guess I will have chickens for a while .

I solved Merle’s egg mystery - she had discreetly laid in the barn yesterday. But I had another egg riddle today. Kara spent an hour in her usual nest box, but when I went to retrieve the egg, it was light beige instead of dark brown! So either she has gone short on paint, either someone else laid this egg. It looked like Léa’s, but that would have meant she laid two in the same morning (which has happened to her already) ; other possibilities is one of the young pullets, which I would be very excited about. I’m hoping for an answer tomorrow!

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Happy Birthday Manue

 

[ManueB]

Thanks for the wishes!

but they have had as long in paradise as they had in prison now.

Longer, if you're calling our place paradise. We got them at three months due to peculiar circumstances!
In my idea of chicken paradise, there are no predators, no red mites, no world, and no chicken nettings . But i’m not a chicken!

Really? I would be absolutely facinated to read any justifications you may have for the above.
People have been selling people for thousands of years. They still do although sometimes one has to look hard at a situation to see the sales and the profit. Many people sell themselves in order to eat still in this day and age.
Is the principle of not selling life, or the conditions those lives are kept in that's important?

I and most people believe there is a difference between selling your labour power and selling your existence. Selling a human being's existence is called slavery and I don't see under what circumstances it would be acceptable even when it is willingly chosen. The fact that a thing has always been done does not make it right or inevitable.

 

[Perris]

to avoid misunderstandings it is essential to define terms on topics like slavery. There are multiple recognised but different ones in this case.

 

[ManueB]

Yes, it's a word used for very different situations throughout history and continents, and not one I will dive into because my knowledge of all the different cases is far from sufficient.
I’m not going to argue further. I did not say selling animals is wrong. It's just something I don't feel totally confortable with. And I think being able to buy a person is wrong in each case it means taking away fundamental individual freedoms. One could discuss what these are and whether they are relative to different societies, and if even the notion of individual freedom is relative. I don't think it's the place to do so on a chicken forum .

 

[Perris]

One could discuss what these are and whether they are relative to different societies, and if even the notion of individual freedom is relative. I don't think it's the place to do so on a chicken forum

I second that!

 

[lightm]

Happy birthday Manue! I'm sorry about the incidence with your partner's father, or rather, the long standing disagreement.

It sounds like he will never change so the best you can do is to focus on your life. Perhaps it's even healthy to lose temper occasionally.

I hope you had a good day!

 

[ManueB]

The egg mystery had an answer but not the one I wished for. I found a shattered soft shell egg under the roost this morning and Kara was not well all morning. She didn't eat anything so I gave her an egg, which she ate, and yogurt, which she didn't want. In the afternoon she spent about an hour and a half resting in the nest. She seemed a bit better after, but still not great. Fingers crossed it's just a glitch. She and Lilly have been pumping eggs like machines since the temperature went under 30. They lay every day with a break maybe every fortnight .

The other notable event of the day was when Lulu caught a nice lizard and an epic chase ensued. She managed to bring it out of the chicken netting, but in the end Piou-piou, and then Merle stole it from her.

Gaston keeps jumping over the netting to flirt with the younger pullets . I don't let him stay outside because then there is no rooster with the older hens, and he does a lot of damage in the garden when he digs around with his power claws ! He’s very endearing because everytime I scold him for getting out, he answers sadly "paw paw paaaw" with his deep voice and he follows me back in .

Kara

Mélisse

Kara not doing good this morning.

The new couple. They even roost together now.

 

[ManueB]

Kara seemed better today. I would say she looked fine but a bit subdued. She has bad diarrhea however and she did not lay, which i’m not sure is good or bad in her case. Hope to see her back to health tomorrow.

I mentioned before that Gaston's skin around his vent is very irritated. About a month ago I trimmed all the feathers there so poop wouldn't get stuck. A few days ago I noticed it was very red again but on my own I did not manage to hold him and have a good look, he doesn't trust me anymore now. With my partner we looked today and it's really bad. It's red almost to the point of bleeding in a really large area. There is no lice, no eggs, nothing to be seen apart from quill feathers coming in, but i’m certain the irritation started way before the molt. I applied aloe Vera and neem oil, in case I missed some parasites, but i’m not sure it will be sufficient. I have applied before lavender water with aloe for days and it didn't help.
I bought a silver colloidal spray especially for irritated skin for Piou-piou, but she reacted badly to it. I’m hesitant to try it on Gaston.

Alba’s feet are healed. We are going to put just vet wrap on her feet for a week, because the colloidal dressing have made her feet very soft and squishy from having worn the colloidal dressing for so long. One of Nieva’s foot is almost healed as well, but the other is not getting better. I debrided it again today.

Laure is slowly getting a bit less afraid, but she is still very shy.

Kara

Blanche. Not looking too bad at times and terrible at others.

Cannelle had to make Piou-piou move to show her who was boss.

Mélisse. Gaston mated her yesterday, I think this means she will lay soon.

Pied Beau sometimes forget he isn't a baby any more.

This is a picture just before chicken drama. Piou-piou was so upset to see Lilly and Pied Beau on HER manure pile that she overcame her fear of Pied Beau and attacked them. It didn't end well; Théo hearing this went to chase Pied Beau who was so afraid he unwillingly flew away toward Piou-piou, and she also got so afraid she tried to get away and stuck herself in the netting. Luckily no one was hurt.

 

[Perris]

love the photo of your partner and Pied Beau; looks like they had words, of the form 'This is my lunch not yours'