Oh my goodness, that would be amazing.We're not even baking strawberries pies anymore but just eating them with the local ewe yogurt sprinkled with whole cane sugar . Best thing I've eaten in a long time.
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Oh my goodness, that would be amazing.We're not even baking strawberries pies anymore but just eating them with the local ewe yogurt sprinkled with whole cane sugar . Best thing I've eaten in a long time.
It's my turn to feel crappy and the evening mandatory hour of watering is the only thing I will achieve- I am spending the day in the lounge chair on Byc and watching the chickens.
I put hemp seeds in my feed mix.Thank you for those good news ! It makes me happy that it turned out so well for Honey.
I don't remember, was she used to be in the house before she went blind ?
Also, I think it's a bit for chickens like for people. Personality can play a big role in how one reacts to sickness or disability. She had sass and a will to live so it must have helped.
I hope her molt goes fine too . It's early for molting. But I also have some of the hens who are giving signs of beginning light molts.
Most rescues I have seen who take blind hens either put them in coops with other blind or sight impaired chickens, or have them become house chickens like Honey !
Blanche, who had lost an eye in the hawk attack, didn't do so well with her restrained vision. She could manage every day stuff but I believe she was afraid that she wasn't able to spot dangers anymore, because she very rarely ventured away from her safe places.
Are your feeders large enough that she can access them even without good aiming ?
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We have very unusual weather and so the reports keep messing up. It's been alternating desert wind with grey skies, storms, and our usual summer windy climate. The soil is still damp enough underneath that the chickens can still forage nicely in their yard.
We didn't realise that there was so many cherries in the chicken's tree but in fact we have eaten more than any other year, and both us and the chickens have gotten belly aches from too much cherries ! Now all the ones we can't harvest are rotting and attracting many winged insects that sometimes fall to the ground right for the chickens to gobble them up, they especially love the rose chafers which make very crunchy snacks. Laure goes back out once everyone is asleep to hunt for them.
I want to share a little food experiment I'm going to try. Since October I had been adding two teaspoons of hemp oil in the chicken's mash, first as a carrier oil for the essential oils I was trying for worms, then because I kept using thyme and turmeric essential oils after seeing studies that showed they had positive effects on overall immunity.
Since February the hens started laying again a lot and very nice eggs, so much that we began selling quite a few. But around mid april they began laying less, and smaller eggs, with shells not so nice. I attributed this to the fact that they were now fenced and did not free range anymore, or to the problems some have with lice. But recently I got a targeted add from a french poultry website for products to help hens keep laying with the heat, and they were selling among other things very expensive hemp seeds. I realised the moment the eggs dropped in quality and number also coincided with the moment I stopped giving them the hemp oil because I didn't have any left (I also use it for me on salad and fresh cheese). So I bought more and began giving it again three weeks ago, and taddam- more eggs.
I totally think it could be a coincidence, but long story short, I am going to try giving them 10% hemp seeds in the fermented mix. The poultry site sells them very expensive, but I've found organic producers on the web that sell them in bigger quantity much cheaper. I've learned my lesson with the peas and will try a small amount first to see if they eat it. If they don't like it I'll finish them in my yogurt, I think they are good for humans too .
I'm not trying to make them lay more of course, just trying to improve their feed !
I got a lot of crappy pictures on Saturday and Sunday because of the weather so even if my phone takes horrible night photos, I thought it would be a change to post roosting chickens.
Main roost from left to right. Laure, Nieva, Alba, Nougat, Léa, Kara and Lily in the background.
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Right to Léa : Annette, Lulu, Gaston.
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Front of the coop, the small chicken's roost : Merle, Théo, Piou-piou, Melisse.View attachment 3859063
In the crate for the night, front of the coop but on the other side, Chipie
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Sunday I went for a long loop, my first serious mountain run. I like it because there is 4 km running on a ridge 2150 m high where you can see two totally different valleys. Weather forecast was south desert wind with white sky ...I got hail then thunder on the ridge . Needless to say I didn't stop to look or take pictures and hurried to be safer below.
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Then today the sun was back with nice temperatures.
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How cute are these two ? But Théo is a real pain trying to mate Piou-piou, who is indeed doing something like a summer molt. I am so happy to see her feathers growing at last and hope she is not going to pluck them all out !!
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Iyi geceler Karagöz
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I'd like to think as you do. My theory is less optimistic. I think there is an overload of both external and internal parasites in my environment and that while it doesn't actually make the chickens sick, it tires them a lot. I believe the four hens I bought are coping the worse because they were too old when they arrived here for their health system to adapt.I've never seen early roosting mentioned as a warning. I hope it's a simple matter of the chickens liking the coop and feeling safe in there, along with feeling the day's work is done: full crops, digestion chugging along, bit of sun enjoyed, bit of dust bathing done, now it's time for rest. But it makes sense the roosters wake up earlier than usual. And it's nice to know it's such a cohesive flock. One goes in, they all go in!
I received the hemp seeds some days ago and the chickens seem to like them. I thought they taste the same as the oil, I like their taste, but I don't like the texture, they are difficult to chew. So I will be likely getting them in bulk quantities for animals now rather than order them as human organic supplements.I put hemp seeds in my feed mix.
If I do too much it is comes back for a few daysI should not have boasted about being over COVID because it came back with all the symptoms of a nasty cold
Maybe you are right because having worms and also the medicines against worm take a toll. But dont forget we have the longest day of the year now and chickens get tired after a long day. Mine roost early too. But in the morning at sunrise they are all awake and active.I'd like to think as you do. My theory is less optimistic. I think there is an overload of both external and internal parasites in my environment and that while it doesn't actually make the chickens sick, it tires them a lot. I believe the four hens I bought are coping the worse because they were too old when they arrived here for their health system to adapt.
Maybe it helps if you could let the 4 young hens free range 1 hour before roost time? Supervised of course to see they dont harm your veggie garden. Worth a try?I also believe out of the four youngest pullets that hatched last year, three have been a bit depressed since when we stopped them from free ranging.
And finally Gaston, who used to be very soft with the hens, has gotten rougher and so they don't want to hang out with him in the evening when his hormones are acting up.
Sorry for Nougat. This doesn’t sound good at all.Nougat has something wrong definitely. She went from laying bad shaped eggs, to soft shells and shell less eggs. And her poops have turned very strange : black oily diarrhea, which I have never seen the like before. She is still acting normal, as far as I can tell. We have no clue on what's wrong with her and we both agreed we don't want to take a very stressed senior ex-batt to our vet clinic that's two hours away.
I think the hens may have an issue with lack of calcium. Most of them almost don't eat the oyster shells.
Listen to your body and get well soon.I should not have boasted about being over COVID because it came back with all the symptoms of a nasty cold : sore throat, blocked sinuses and ear drums, and some interesting muscular pains and cramps. Today we have a lot of rain, which is wonderful as it was getting dry and it allows me to stay in bed without feeling guilty. I probably won't update as much in the following two weeks.