It wasn't just our chickens every one in the Charente area seemed to have had the same problem.
Anyway.....as we were going back and forward to the Uk for periods of time and we didn't want to constantly ask our neighbour to look after them....we decided to re home them.Also as we were meant to be living as self sufficiently as possible it seemed daft to be keeping chickens and buying eggs!
The lovely Sue from the Astrofarm near Confolens took them in to mingle with her own flock. Although it took them time to settle ...and to get their pecking order....they have so much more free ranging space than they had here so they are happily retired.
I really missed having the girls in the garden ....as much as I missed the eggs. So as Spring is approaching I figured it was time to get some more.
We visited the monthly market which is held at Roulliac on the 27 th of each month. It was the same supplier as last time but when we got the chickens home we realised we were dealing with very very different personalities.
For the last few months in France chicken keepers have been in a lock down situation due to Avian flu.Birds are kept in restrictive conditions to prevent wild birds accessing them and spreading the virus. For some breeders this has meant keeping the birds in caged conditions rather than being free range.
It was evident that our new chickens have been cage raised! The poor little things were terrified of us, open space,birds, plants......you name it! It made me realise how easy our last chickens had been.
Our girls are going to need lots of love and patience. I feel so sad for them and hope that we can bring them round...it's almost like having rescue chickens.
I spend as much time as I can just being around them and come bed time we have coax them in to the chicken house.
Second night, as dusk was arriving, I went out to discover both chickens perched on the gate ....I'm not sure whether they were just thinking this was a good place to sleep or if they were preparing for the great escape. So once again they had to be placed to bed.
Things were looking up when this morning they happily trooped out of the house without coaxing and seemed much more confident in their coop.....even beginning to scrat a little and eat more.
Bedtime arrived and hubby shouted...I can see the chickens going in to bed. Brilliant I thought......however 2 minutes later they were out again.
Then in...then out!
It finished them both sitting at the bottom of the gate looking up....we had foiled their attempts of escape by clipping their wings earlier that day. We gently guided them into their house and hoped they would soon learn how to get up on the roost in there.
We are now 3 weeks on and progressing really well. The chickens recognise that we bring food, pose no threat and are beginning to relax. As I sit in the pen with them they approach me tentatively and if I lift a hand they go down into the submissive position which means they are accepting me being the dominant one.
So let me introduce Erica the sausage ( please don't ask,,in joke between Papi and granddaughter) and Chicken Nugget
REMIND ME NOT TO ASK THE GRANDCHILDREN TO NAME THE CHICKENS NEXT TIME
The girls were quite big and I really thought they were point of lay but it would appear that they are actually quite young despite their size. Despite having a small egg laid on the first day we had nothing else until today when a very strange rubbery half egg was deposited on the grass in the run.
It wasn't like the thin shelled eggs that they say comes when chickens don't have enough calcium in the diet.I had never seen anything like this before. A swift post on the chicken keepers site I use here in Charente put my mind at rest. This is common when chickens are just coming in to lay.
Lets hope the girls feel happy, safe and settled enough to now start laying.
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