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| Blackadder
arrives - we name the new chickens
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 This
winter has been a good time to get outdoors and prepare the housing
for the chickens and ducks. We finished the pond last Autumn. Although
a good deal of thought has to be put into the building of suitable
housing, it is a great opportunity to use all those offcuts of timber
left over from four years of renovation work - old chevron, doors
and slate etc.
Everything prepared we set off at the end of February for the monthly
market at Les Hirolles, near Lussac des Eglises. This tiny, quiet
hamlet transforms into one of the largest street markets in France
on the 29th of each month. Everything from chickens to hats, ducks
to furniture, clothes, cheeses, hams, hardware, and livestock auction
in the early morning - its all here. Wear a good pair of walking
shoes, it will take you a couple of hours at least to get around
it.
We scoured the livestock stalls, inspecting the point of lay chickens
carefully and eventually plumped for six Bovans Nera and a couple
of red birds to add a bit of colour and variety. Sadly we couldn't
find any female ducks. We were looking for some Khaki Campbells
to provide us with a steady supply of duck eggs - my wife swears
by them for baking and I love them for breakfast. Unfortunately
the French can't understand why anyone would keep a duck for any
other reason than eating, so they almost exclusively breed the male
of the species which are generally larger. (So what happens to all
the females?) They don't know what they are missing!
Arriving home with the new chickens we put them straight into the
coop with some food and water to give them time to adjust to their
new surroundings - and to understand where they were supposed to
go at night. We left the door to the coop open so that they could
go out and explore and, after two hours, I was amazed to see that
they were all gathered around the door, like football supporters
without a season ticket, looking out, but without the inclination
to take the "first giant step for henkind!"
Sensing that chickens are incredibly thick (I'm quick like that),
I heaved them all out to play in the pen. Now I went to all the
trouble of providing a large grazing area for them, but they insist
on forming a gang and having a hen party under the coop - the worst
possible place to try and catch them. Now we come to the name of
this page - the leader is a large black ovans Nera who has taken
the name of Edmund Blackadder (ok she's female but let's not get
picky, or pecky - get it - pecky - oh forget it!)
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