Théo and the chickens des Sauches

[Perris]

I wonder if fermenting would be sufficient.

There is soy included in one of the pea mixes I get sometimes, and that only gets a light ferment, so I think so, at least if it's a minority ingredient. If you were planning to give say 10% or more I'd do a bit more research on it. I think it is usually micronized here for animal feed. This explains micronizing

 

[Molpet]

Five evenings later, I can report that opening the terrace's door next to the chicken yard made Gaston's gang happy and excited, but it did not get them to roost later.
I open at four and they all run there to scratch and do chicken things. It's very convenient because it leaves a clear way for Théo and his team to come roosting in the coop without even meeting Gaston. The other chickens stayed across on that terrace a bit later than usual Thursday and Friday, maybe 15 to 20 minutes, but the next days they were back to being roosted at 16h35. I won't try anything more coercitive, I'm just going to try to get them to stay in that field as long as they do know, so that they don't go to bed earlier still when the days shorten.
To be honest I have the same issue as they do. Since we switched time I'm in bed at nine and up at four and even if I force myself to stay up later I still wake at four .

Guess who laid an egg today ? I'm quite excited .
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I felt it was going to happen because Gaston has been very amorous with her for the last ten days. It's rather scary seeing him sprint across the yard all feathers spread out to try to mate tiny Chipie ! Luckily, it almost never really happens, because she flies or jumps out of reach. Her eggs used to be so rare that they feel very precious, but she has actually laid a lot more this year ! This is her 44th egg since January. I hope it means she is feeling more safe or /and is in better health, I think it's not usual for an older chicken to start laying more.

Compared to the other chickens , her egg top left is a long oval shape. 28g, whereas the next smaller egg is Merle, 48g ! Then again Merle herself weighs almost twice as Chipie .
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And some notes on food. I've started weighing and adjusting the chick feed I give as mash, to know the exact amount the chickens eat : 300 to 330 grams (10 to 11.5 oz) daily for 14 chickens, so around 22 g per chickens (0.77 oz). They eat about twice that weight of fermented grains, about 100 g of "human" food like pasta, rice, sardines or eggs in the morning, and they have access all day to dry grains and layer feed (which they eat very little of). I wanted to know if it was doable for me to order organic chick feed online both for cost and logistics. It is very possible, as this means 10 kg would last for more than a month without reducing at all the amount they get. I'll order some when I'm nearly done with my current bag. As I've said, I'm planning to reduce their daily amount somewhat, but I will wait once molting is over.

@Perris I have a question that you may possibly know the answer to, or maybe others happen to know. I haven't been able to find a clear answer online, but I guess I have not looked well enough. I know that soy is not given in animal food as a whole grain or legume (not sure which would be the correct term in english) because of it's high level of anti-nutritional, especially the trypsine inhibitors. When it is indeed used whole for cattle of poultry, the common procedure is to grill it. I wonder if fermenting would be sufficient. In human food, it is never just fermented, it's always cooked as well for at least an hour.
I'm interested because I have easy access to french organic soy grains. I used to buy it in bulk when I was doing my own soy milk. In winter, it would be easy for me to cook it on the stove, but I would not be able to do so when it's warm enough that we stop using it.

It's still what we call Saint Martin's summer around here (don't ask me why !)
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Pictures in the newly re-discovered terrace.
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Lilly and Kara.
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We used to call warm days after the start of fall, especially after the first frost, Indian summer. Now second summer is used.

Saint Martin's day is november 11th, so I assume the name is related.

 

[BDutch]

. I know that soy is not given in animal food as a whole grain or legume (not sure which would be the correct term in english)

Soy is a bean. Young soy beans are sold for human consumption too. Sold as edamame beans. Very tasty and nutritious.

The soy in animal feed is from ripened beans. Its shredded and the product that you get in the feed is what you get after the soy oil is pressed out.

I'm interested because I have easy access to french organic soy grains. I used to buy it in bulk when I was doing my own soy milk. In winter, it would be easy for me to cook it on the stove, but I would not be able to do so when it's warm enough that we stop using it.

You can use whatever is left over of the beans to shred it and feed small portions to the chickens.

 

[ManueB]

We used to call warm days after the start of fall, especially after the first frost, Indian summer. Now second summer is used.

Saint Martin's day is november 11th, so I assume the name is related.

Yes, we have Indian summer too !
In fact it's the name of a french cult really really cheesy song from 1975... L'été indien from Joe Dassin. Not all of the 70's musical hits deserved to make history !

Soy is a bean. Young soy beans are sold for human consumption too. Sold as edamame beans. Very tasty and nutritious.

Although everyone in France know it's beans, when you buy it whole, we call it grains, and also when you buy it toasted for snacks. But edamame are indeed called beans ! I wasn't sure if this was also the case in english.

You can use whatever is left over of the beans to shred it and feed small portions to the chickens.

When I made soy milk I did give the okara to the chickens, the beans are cooked before. I don't make soy milk anymore, I prefer oat milk which also takes just a few minutes to make.

If you were planning to give say 10% or more I'd do a bit more research on it. I think it is usually micronized here for animal feed. This explains micronizing

Whow, it makes it sound very... futuristic if that word exists !
Thanks for the info. I will spend some more time searching. From what I read in two different technical pieces meant for organic commercial layer farms, at worse it would not make the soy toxic or problematic, but it would have almost no nutritional value. They also had recommendations of maximum levels for different crops, and for extruded soy beans it was 20%. We're using the stove now, until at least mid-may, so I could possibly give the chickens cooked soy beans. It would make them a change from split peas.

I know lentils and chickpeas aren't supposed to be good for them ; my chickens actually love them and I give them some once or twice a month, as "treats" , but not on a regular basis.

The Indian summer is over, although we still had a few nice hours this afternoon. But temperatures are still much higher than what we are used to at this time of year. The leaves are taking a very long time to fall, and I have a feeling the chickens are also molting more slowly and lightly.
Laying is also finally beginning to really slow down, but only Léa has totally stopped. All the other chickens keep laying but not as frequently. I'm not sure if they will take real pause, but a few have had short breaks of a week or more. Chipie hasn't laid again, but I'm pretty sure she will. At least I hope she hasn't started laying in a really weird place because she is used to doing that !

My partner built back one of the dry stone wall that tumbled down with the heavy rain, and he had a lot of left over soil. We put it in the chicken's run to level it up. It almost feels like magic how the chickens can make the earth disappear from the run, leaving only stones ! We had enough to put some away so that we can use it to refill the run again later on.

The chia plants in the chicken yard are flowering, and the bees seem to like the flowers. I didn't know that they are a type of salvia ! I hope they will reseed themselves like the linseed did.
Sadly we've lost a few of the saplings we planted this year, that had survived the hail, all of the hazelnut trees, and a young almond tree. We're not being very successful at trying to grow trees that produce edible stuff !

My parents and my brother are coming over next monday to celebrate my birthday five weeks late. My brother has adopted a month ago two sibling kittens from one of my village's sheep keeper. I can't wait to know how he and they are doing. My brother had a cat when he was twenty three, and he grew allergic to dust (he has asthma). Since then he lived all this time without cats, but after twenty years he decided he loves them too much.

Yesterday evening we went running with my partner in the woods. We hadn't run together for about two years I think, and at night must have been before we left Nice in 2019. It was very mentally refreshing to focus only on where to put your foot for the next step and finding the trail for two hours ! @BDutch it's a famous climbing spot, Annot, both for boulder and trad climbing.

This place is called the king's chamber.

The old house in the wood, Balmelonge, had a spooky thin-veil vibe at night !

Back to chickens

Lilly and Kara.

Molting tiny naughty.

Lulu ! It's hard to take good pictures of her because she is always scratching around. She never naps.

Chipie is sticking close to Léa these days. I think she likes being with a hen she dominates.

Laure is getting some colours and shape back. She looks bigger now ! I wonder if the implant is already wearing off, or if it's just the end of the moult it induced. She is doing good !

Mélisse thinks it's her job to clean the table before we have lunch and more importantly after.

 

[BDutch]

I know lentils and chickpeas aren't supposed to be good for them ;

?
Why do you think so? Maybe not too much or not raw. But they are both nutritious and healthy for humans. I’m sure it must be good food for chickens too.

 

[BDutch]

Beautiful! Great as entry for the autumn competition .

 

[Perris]

futuristic if that word exists

it does; meaning exactly as you used it.

We're using the stove now, until at least mid-may, so I could possibly give the chickens cooked soy beans. It would make them a change from split peas.

win:win

I know lentils and chickpeas aren't supposed to be good for them ; my chickens actually love them and I give them some once or twice a month

They're fine as an occasional inclusion. But not as a major component all of the time.

 

[ManueB]

The weather has been shifting wildly the last days. It felt almost like spring Sunday and yesterday. Today it stayed at 3c and we see the first snow, just three hundred meters higher from us.
Quite a few of the chickens seem to be shifting into full molting now. The roosters shed feathers every time they shake. Léa and Annette look very tired. Laying has finally dropped drastically. Yesterday three out of four eggs were "wrong" : soft shells and strange shape. I still see a touch of blood in many otherwise normal looking droppings, so it's possible there is a mild infection going on. But no chickens is displaying behaviour that could make me think they are ill.

As it's lightly drizzling and cold today, we are making things ready to pull electricity into the coop. My partner decided to add a light in the run as well, and an electrical outlet which will make it easier to use electrical tools outside.

Yesterday my family came over, it was very nice. In the morning we hiked with my brother and my dad while my partner cooked chard and ricotta raviolis with lemon cream. I baked a kind of soft cheese pie for dessert. And my parents brought cheese and wine. Théo's team enjoyed the meal, I think .

Saturday, grey and damp.

Sunny Monday

Orange larches are one of the reasons I love fall

But today it's winter. Gaston has a hard time believing it's actually snow over there.

Léa is pale, tired and molting.

The chickens are quite worried about all those cables inside their home !

 

[MaryJanet]

Those larches are wonderful.

 

[ManueB]

First frost this morning .
It's later every year. When we began our garden here nine years ago we expected frost in the last two weeks of september.
The chickens looked cold, and they took their time to come out of the run, waiting until the sun was out. In the morning now they come down from the roost, spend about 15 mn eating and drinking while I clean the coop, then most of them go back on the roost and preen or nap.

Piou-piou laid a soft shell egg during the night for the second time in a row. I'm not used to hens laying while they do a slow molt, I've mostly seen hens taking a break. Could the molt explain the soft shells ?
I'm going to try to increase calcium intake for a week and see if it helps at all. They are all being active, so I'm not worried at this stage.

Gaston looks rough now and Lilly grooms him quite hard on the new coming in feathers. He stands completely still when she does that, so I suppose he doesn't mind.

I still haven't found something to replace the old pieces of plastic that I'm using as a visual separator between the roosters at roost time, but it works very well. Now they have an established routine which allows both to go to roost without seeing the other. Gaston plays the game of going away when Théo comes in and then pretending he is not there when he comes back to the coop to roost, but unfortunately Théo doesn't and he crows like crazy when Gaston comes in. Then of course Gaston crows back, which makes Théo peck the hens next to him in anger. He is such a jerk. Molting doesn't help his temper unfortunately. I tried using a separator between him and Piou-piou for a few nights ; it stopped the pecking but they both seemed stressed not to see each other so I took it out.

Cold early morning.

The snow has almost all melted with the sun.