Théo and the chickens des Sauches

Piou-piou's story 🐥
05/06/2022 - 22/12/2024

Part 2 : wounded , and the months that followed.


On the 31 march 2023, I noticed Piou-piou was sitting down looking tired. This immediately caught my attention ; it was totally unusual for her - she was so full of energy I never saw her being still.
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She foraged a bit, came to eat yoghurt, but later she was down again. There was indeed something wrong because I was able to catch her without any difficulty. I discovered she was badly wounded under one wing, obviously from Gaston's mating, due to size difference, or the over mating, or both.
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I cleaned up the wound, but it was already old and had an ugly scab. I had good advice from some of you. I called the clinic and followed their recommendations, putting her in a crate, cleaning the wound daily and applying Betadine twice a day. It was almost two weeks before we could bring her to the vet, and we were terrified of infection in the meantime. We were so happy and relieved when the vet said her wound was healing fine.
Throughout this time we kept her locked in a crate and in the woodshed for three weeks, that seemed endless. She was horribly depressed going from total freedom to being jailed, and began pecking at her wound and plucking all her feathers. We took out the crate out many times a day to put her along the other chickens, but it was impossible to let her out because whether on grass or soil, she would immediately attempt to dustbathe and that was forbidden to protect her wound.
image.jpg


On the 20 th of April we let her out under supervision back with the flock. And just five days later she opened her wound again badly, either by dustbathing or getting mated by Gaston, or both. It had been too soon, and we thought again she would not make it. At the end of april we brought her back to the vet for stitches and that did the trick - this time the wound healed much faster !

She wasn't over trouble though and it was a difficult time for her and for us, with other issues and changes in the flock. In the middle of may she had a strange problem - a sort of fit, thrashing and moving backward, and she was suddenly very unwell, and as if paralysed from the rear. It lasted for about 24 h and after she laid she was better again.
Then once or twice, she again had issues laying.

But she was clearly on the way to recovery, and now she could hang outside all day, as long as we kept her separated from Gaston.
She spent a lot of time alone and isolated from the flock, which was very sad.
And she slowly became more friend with Théo. During that time, Gaston had gradually taken dominance over Théo. So whereas up to then, Gaston had been mostly staying outside and Théo in the chicken yard, we began that summer to let Théo stay outside with Piou-piou. We figured he was smaller and would cause less damage mating her and she would have a rooster free ranging with her.


Progressively she began to be better psychologically, but she still kept plucking her feathers all the time, so they did not have a chance to regrow.
She hanged out a bit with Léa's chicks once they were weaned, and whenever she was in the chicken yard, she was a big bully to the four new pullets. Sadly this would turn around against her as they all became more assertive, and many managed to overcome Piou-piou and started bullying her in return. Since she was still fragile and featherless where she had been wounded, we were anxious that she would not get into real fights again.

In August, something surprising happened that we had actually wished for before, when she was so sad she had to be kept locked in the shed - she went broody. She wasn't very committed and she was sitting on a nest outside, so we couldn't let her sit, otherwise we might have considered it to make her feel better. It only lasted for about a week. It was the first time, and it never happened again.
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So gradually she lived more and more outside the chicken yard and would only come in accompanied by Théo for a quick dust bath or to lay in the coop. For many months we put her to roost in a crate inside the coop so there would be no interactions with Gaston, and so she wasn't independent to go roosting and to come out in the morning.

All this led her to become a lot closer to us. She began staying with us for lunch and coming with us every time we'd do some work in the garden. Every time we had lunch outside she'd be perched on my partner's chair, with Hibou the cat just behind, and both would wait for some bits of our food.
image.jpg

We started calling her princess and bringing her inside our home when she was not well and it was too cold outside. And she also definitely became Théo's hen that automn. They were not in love as she had been with Gaston, but they spent most of the day together.

The ending of that difficult period was short of a miracle. On the 31 December, because it was raining heavily, we had lunch inside and locked the chickens in the run, and Piou-piou and Théo in the woodshed. While we were eating I heard Gaston making the alarm sound. I rushed and realised that the problem was in the woodshed. When I opened it Piou-piou was huddled on her nest on the floor, Théo screaming perched on a wood stack near the door flew straight above my head, and a huge cat that was in fact a fox was crouched on the other woodstack.
Théo had just a scratch on his comb likely from flying up to the stack. Piou-piou had a small wound on her body and was totally shocked. To this day we're still not sure how she wasn't killed then.
image.jpg

She healed quickly but remained in shock for a long time, and spent every morning in january inside our house in our kitchen to stay warm and get some confort.

Wood stove lounging :
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Pictures :

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IMG_20230416_075942.jpg
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First time dustbathing in carefully sifted sand :
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She did not pass the diaper test.
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I think of this as the end of a period because after that, her difficulties were over, and for the months to come, it would only be a joy to have her around and to put up with all her whims. After all she had been through, we spoiled her like no other chicken. She certainly did not look like a princess anymore, she kept plucking her feathers and she was all disheveled, but for us she remained our little princess, more precious than any other.
 
Piou-piou's story 🐥
05/06/2022 - 22/12/2024

Part 2 : wounded , and the months that followed.


On the 31 march 2023, I noticed Piou-piou was sitting down looking tired. This immediately caught my attention ; it was totally unusual for her - she was so full of energy I never saw her being still.
View attachment 4033994
She foraged a bit, came to eat yoghurt, but later she was down again. There was indeed something wrong because I was able to catch her without any difficulty. I discovered she was badly wounded under one wing, obviously from Gaston's mating, due to size difference, or the over mating, or both.
View attachment 4033992

I cleaned up the wound, but it was already old and had an ugly scab. I had good advice from some of you. I called the clinic and followed their recommendations, putting her in a crate, cleaning the wound daily and applying Betadine twice a day. It was almost two weeks before we could bring her to the vet, and we were terrified of infection in the meantime. We were so happy and relieved when the vet said her wound was healing fine.
Throughout this time we kept her locked in a crate and in the woodshed for three weeks, that seemed endless. She was horribly depressed going from total freedom to being jailed, and began pecking at her wound and plucking all her feathers. We took out the crate out many times a day to put her along the other chickens, but it was impossible to let her out because whether on grass or soil, she would immediately attempt to dustbathe and that was forbidden to protect her wound.
View attachment 4033993

On the 20 th of April we let her out under supervision back with the flock. And just five days later she opened her wound again badly, either by dustbathing or getting mated by Gaston, or both. It had been too soon, and we thought again she would not make it. At the end of april we brought her back to the vet for stitches and that did the trick - this time the wound healed much faster !

She wasn't over trouble though and it was a difficult time for her and for us, with other issues and changes in the flock. In the middle of may she had a strange problem - a sort of fit, thrashing and moving backward, and she was suddenly very unwell, and as if paralysed from the rear. It lasted for about 24 h and after she laid she was better again.
Then once or twice, she again had issues laying.

But she was clearly on the way to recovery, and now she could hang outside all day, as long as we kept her separated from Gaston.
She spent a lot of time alone and isolated from the flock, which was very sad.
And she slowly became more friend with Théo. During that time, Gaston had gradually taken dominance over Théo. So whereas up to then, Gaston had been mostly staying outside and Théo in the chicken yard, we began that summer to let Théo stay outside with Piou-piou. We figured he was smaller and would cause less damage mating her and she would have a rooster free ranging with her.


Progressively she began to be better psychologically, but she still kept plucking her feathers all the time, so they did not have a chance to regrow.
She hanged out a bit with Léa's chicks once they were weaned, and whenever she was in the chicken yard, she was a big bully to the four new pullets. Sadly this would turn around against her as they all became more assertive, and many managed to overcome Piou-piou and started bullying her in return. Since she was still fragile and featherless where she had been wounded, we were anxious that she would not get into real fights again.

In August, something surprising happened that we had actually wished for before, when she was so sad she had to be kept locked in the shed - she went broody. She wasn't very committed and she was sitting on a nest outside, so we couldn't let her sit, otherwise we might have considered it to make her feel better. It only lasted for about a week. It was the first time, and it never happened again.
View attachment 4034042

So gradually she lived more and more outside the chicken yard and would only come in accompanied by Théo for a quick dust bath or to lay in the coop. For many months we put her to roost in a crate inside the coop so there would be no interactions with Gaston, and so she wasn't independent to go roosting and to come out in the morning.

All this led her to become a lot closer to us. She began staying with us for lunch and coming with us every time we'd do some work in the garden. Every time we had lunch outside she'd be perched on my partner's chair, with Hibou the cat just behind, and both would wait for some bits of our food.
View attachment 4034039
We started calling her princess and bringing her inside our home when she was not well and it was too cold outside. And she also definitely became Théo's hen that automn. They were not in love as she had been with Gaston, but they spent most of the day together.

The ending of that difficult period was short of a miracle. On the 31 December, because it was raining heavily, we had lunch inside and locked the chickens in the run, and Piou-piou and Théo in the woodshed. While we were eating I heard Gaston making the alarm sound. I rushed and realised that the problem was in the woodshed. When I opened it Piou-piou was huddled on her nest on the floor, Théo screaming perched on a wood stack near the door flew straight above my head, and a huge cat that was in fact a fox was crouched on the other woodstack.
Théo had just a scratch on his comb likely from flying up to the stack. Piou-piou had a small wound on her body and was totally shocked. To this day we're still not sure how she wasn't killed then.

She healed quickly but remained in shock for a long time, and spent every morning in january inside our house in our kitchen to stay warm and get some confort.

Wood stove lounging :
View attachment 4034097

Pictures :

View attachment 4033997View attachment 4033999View attachment 4034000
First time dustbathing in carefully sifted sand :
View attachment 4034084

View attachment 4034025
She did not pass the diaper test.
View attachment 4034026View attachment 4034028View attachment 4034035View attachment 4034037View attachment 4034040View attachment 4034041View attachment 4034043View attachment 4034044View attachment 4034054View attachment 4034055View attachment 4034058View attachment 4034059

I think of this as the end of a period because after that, her difficulties were over, and for the months to come, it would only be a joy to have her around and to put up with all her whims. After all she had been through, we spoiled her like no other chicken. She certainly did not look like a princess anymore, she kept plucking her feathers and she was all disheveled, but for us she remained our little princess, more precious than any other.
Such a lovely little hen. I particularly like the two pictures of her on the back of your partner’s chair waiting to be handed treats.
🥰
 
Such a lovely little hen. I particularly like the two pictures of her on the back of your partner’s chair waiting to be handed treats.
🥰
I'm still trying to chose which pictures of her I should get printed, I have just too many to chose from !
I might also print one on a mug, like I did for Caramel and Vanille -I love thinking of them every time I drink tea.
****************

Yesterday was a rainy day and we were happy to have more rain than forecasted, up to 30 ml. We should have some more rain next week that would be very welcome !

Of course ...the chickens did not agree. In the chicken yard, most of the day was spent in the coop ! Now they have the electric light in there, they seem to find it very cozy. I don't like it so much when they stay inside because they make huge clouds of dust scratching the floor ! Outside, Annette and Mélisse stayed in the garden with Théo. He was so delighted he got completely soaked. But after a while, both hens went back in to get dry, and he found himself alone and got real stressed. When I let him in toward 3.30, taking Gaston away from the coop, he went directly to roost without any fuss or cocorico, which is very unusual for him. I think he may have been miserable being cold and drenched.

It was also yesterday that my partner brought Lilly to the vet, for the abscess on the lower part of her keel bone. It looked much smaller than last year and I thought we had caught it early, but the vet said it went really deep and she couldn't believe how much pus she had to take out 😱. The opening is so big, about 6 cm, that she had stitches. Good thing I didn't attempt to open it at home !
Apparently she was doing great when she woke up and being really nice and laid back in the vet's office, curious of everything. I also asked for an ultra sound because she has been laying all these weird eggs or not laying for two months. Nothing showed up that could point to an infection or reproductive issue, but today she laid a weird egg again. Might have been due to the long trip and waiting at the vet.

I have a problem however because she absolutely hates the antibiotic she's supposed to take. I tried in three of her favourite food - banana, sardine and egg, and it didn't work. It was ok giving it to her with a syringe today because my partner was there and could help, but we will be alone, either him or me, the next five days. The thing is, it's scary to hold her tight when she has such a big scar underneath. Maybe I'll try putting her in a towel, but I haven't had much success up to now doing that, except with my cat.

My partner also showed the vet a picture of Gaston's toe. She thinks he needs to have a radio. My partner said he would not bring him until it was a life or death issue because Gaston is so stressed he would freak out. The vet concurred that stress is a major health risk for roosters, a bit like laying too much for hens.
I think if at some point we really need to take him, we could bring Lilly along, since she's so used to it.

I took very few pictures the last three days, although the weather was rather nice on tuesday and today.

Tuesday we had a bit of sun.
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Lilly got some sun nap.
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Mélisse saucisse is done moulting and her new feathers look so much better compared to Lulu who has almost the same colour, but did not moult. Here she caught a big crunchy long horn beetle.
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Wednesday it rained a lot but Théo was so happy that Annette stayed with him.
IMG_20250122_140602.jpg

He may have stayed in the rain a bit too long.
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And he's not done moulting, he still has the keratin sheaths all over on his mane.
IMG_20250122_144658.jpg

Meanwhile, ready to leave the clinic for the nearly two hours ride back home :
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Today.
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Lilly was happy to be back home.
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Lulu (on the left) did not moult at all, as was the case for our ex-batts thought their first two winters.
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Alba is not doing better but not worse.
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Today we went running with my partner at dusk. We hadn't done that in a long time and we did it twice this week- so fun !
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He may have stayed in the rain a bit too long.
:lau indeed! that's one bedraggled roo!
My partner also showed the vet a picture of Gaston's toe. She thinks he needs to have a radio. My partner said he would not bring him until it was a life or death issue because Gaston is so stressed he would freak out. The vet concurred that stress is a major health risk for roosters
fwiw, Erddig has had an issue with the inner toe of his left foot; I think he either dislocated it or broke a bone in the foot near the joint; when I don't know, except it happened between 18 and 24 weeks old (because I have photos of his feet at those dates and the earlier is before and the later is after it happened). Anyway, he's never been handled and clearly has no desire to be, and he moves without any apparent issue, so I haven't stressed him out by trying to catch him and treat it (assuming I could), and it seems to be fixing itself. Before
Erddig left foot fine.JPG

After
E's bent foot.JPG

Yesterday
E's toe right again small.jpg

I should add that throughout he has had no limp, and can run and mate fine on it.
 
fwiw, Erddig has had an issue with the inner toe of his left foot; I think he either dislocated it or broke a bone in the foot near the joint; when I don't know, except it happened between 18 and 24 weeks old (because I have photos of his feet at those dates and the earlier is before and the later is after it happened). Anyway, he's never been handled and clearly has no desire to be, and he moves without any apparent issue, so I haven't stressed him out by trying to catch him and treat it (assuming I could), and it seems to be fixing itself. Before
View attachment 4034864
After
View attachment 4034867
Yesterday
View attachment 4034869
I should add that throughout he has had no limp, and can run and mate fine on it.
Thanks for telling me about Errdig, that's rather encouraging. Any idea of the length of time between the second and the third picture?

The thing that worries me about Gaston is that it's been about four months and it keeps getting slightly worse. He hasn't limped, or shown any sign of pain either, and just today I saw him scrambling and then jumping down a five feet dry stone wall. But I would have thought that if it was going to heal by itself, it should have at least begun by now. I felt his bump several times and it's not hot or swollen, it's hard as bone.

--------------------

We had an unexpected lovely day and some of the chickens had intense sunbathing sessions !
That was in the morning but at noon two vultures flew very, very close by, and the chickens stayed mostly under cover for the bigger part of the afternoon.
For the first time since we changed the house's entrance, Théo came in, and I couldn't tell if he was scared of the raptors or if he was just curious. Then he took a very long time to assess my boots ! He's so used to seeing them on my legs, including from very close when he attempts to flog me and he gets moved away, that he must have wondered why the heck they were detached from the rest of the human's body.

Alba, whose state was stationary up to now, seemed to get worse today. As I've seen before with two hens that died from reproductive issues, she passed tiny rubbery translucent marbles, that could be lash material, or maybe ovaries, i'm not sure. My previous experiences have shown me that hens can take many months before dying ; for now, she doesn't seem to be really in pain, just often sleeping or lying down.

It's been about three weeks now since I've been giving the organic starter feed instead of the conventional one I used before. The chickens eat about the same amount of it, more some days and less on others. The most positive thing about it is that it looks very fresh and not crumbling compared to what I usually bought. I'll keep giving them the organic starter until they're all done moulting, so likely I will stop when that bag is finished. It wouldn't work in summer because I can only buy it in packs of 25 kg and I know that I can't keep commercial food that long once it gets really hot.

By the way, we also had a bad experience recently buying wheat grain - the bag was six months old, which is not that crazy for grains, and full of worms. I thought that only happened with milled or mash feed, but apparently grain that isn't properly stored can also get those. The agricultural coop that's closer to us doesn't have a lot of turn over so the products stay a long time on the shelves. We have to drive an hour instead of 30 mn to get to a shop where the feed is fresher (and the prices better, but it doesn't compensate the cost of gas).

This morning Chipie had a statement to make about gender identity.

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Annette didn't come out at all to see Théo today.
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Merle
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Lilly ! I tried to trick her hiding the medicine into a piece of banana that still had the skin, like she's used to eating, but it didn't work. So I ended up giving it with a syringe - not fun.
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Alba had moments when she was well enough to join the other chickens.
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But she spent most of the day lying down- not on the nest though so I guess she enjoys the sun.
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He didn't want to get out anymore !
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Any idea of the length of time between the second and the third picture?
6 wks 1 day.
it's been about four months and it keeps getting slightly worse. He hasn't limped, or shown any sign of pain either, and just today I saw him scrambling and then jumping down a five feet dry stone wall.
Discretionary jumping from heights suggests it's not really troubling him doesn't it?
if it was going to heal by itself, it should have at least begun by now. I felt his bump several times and it's not hot or swollen, it's hard as bone.
With Erddig I have been influenced by a vet show here, in particular an episode where a cow was said to have dislocated its hip, but had developed a 'cure'/workaround movement. The vet said it was best left alone, as he would have to do more damage to fix it than it currently involved, and the cow was obviously enjoying life and managing fine with/despite it.
Then he took a very long time to assess my boots ! He's so used to seeing them on my legs, including from very close when he attempts to flog me and he gets moved away, that he must have wondered why the heck they were detached from the rest of the human's body.
:gig
the bag was six months old, which is not that crazy for grains, and full of worms
I hope the shop refunded you, and maybe even reviewed their grain storage arrangements...?
We have to drive an hour instead of 30 mn to get to a shop where the feed is fresher (and the prices better, but it doesn't compensate the cost of gas).
I have a similar trade off, though just on prices. Closer supplier charges same for 2 sacks as more distant supplier charges for 3. I try combine the latter with other reasons for driving that way.
This morning Chipie had a statement to make about gender identity
:gig
 
Then he took a very long time to assess my boots ! He's so used to seeing them on my legs, including from very close when he attempts to flog me and he gets moved away, that he must have wondered why the heck they were detached from the rest of the human's body.
:lau So funny.

By the way, we also had a bad experience recently buying wheat grain - the bag was six months old, which is not that crazy for grains, and full of worms. I thought that only happened with milled or mash feed, but apparently grain that isn't properly stored can also get those.
It’s the grain mix that is not heated. If any bugs laid eggs in the halms/crop, they can develop into moths and other insects. You only need two moths in a bag to develop a whole family of them.
This is why the expiring date on mixed grains is just a few months ahead, the date on the pellets/crumble is later when they are bagged on the same day.

Store it cool /dry and airtight of you want to keep it longer than the date on the bag. If some moths do come in you don’t have to throw it away. Chickens are not as picky as people.
 
Not so here; whole grains single or mixed are a year, processed just a few months. All grain should be clean when bagged.
The grain mix I buy is probably not washed or heated. The corn is cut but all other grains and seeds are whole and can sprout in the right circumstances. So I wonder if your grains are heated or maybe the factory just doesn’t want any claims if something goes wrong?

I buy 20 kg bags for some time now and before this is finished it takes a while. I guess it takes up to 20 weeks/ 6 months to finish a bag. Never had moth problems, but my ‘neighbour’ did have moths in the grain mix after expiring date once, before she bought airtight containers.
 

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