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Dear All,
Haven't done one of these for a long time so apologies.
Obsession : a perfume? No a gift passed seemlessly from father to son.
Last year my focus was on rabbits (less of a problem but the ****ers still cause me grief). But now I feel as I have passed this approach to life on to Felix, and his love affair with chickens.But as with all love affairs it can be a path often tinged with great sadness and then with joy.
First came the sadness. Just before we returned to old blighty, one morning I went to check the post. Not only did I find bank statements but loads of plumes. All the chickens were absent, as I walked I found three coonoos( I am not sure this the correct spelling) and Rosie.The other two coonoos( with no names) and Rocket I failed to find. Nearby I discovered two golden labs who looked as if they had been to a footy match and eaten all the pies. Managed to catch the chicken murderers and took them to the Mairie, dumped the Poulet slaughterers and then on to the Gendarmairie. On our return home one of the coonoos appeared as if from nowhere( a little joy). Later that afternoon we had to collect the kids from school. Felix clocked something wasn't right when we went to buy some sweets on a Tuesday. On telling the news they both sobbed instantaneously. Felix wanted to see Rosie and as he stood and gazed on her stiff corpse a neighbour appeared and told us he had one of our chickens in his garden ( a little more joy mixed with profound sadness). We left the chickens with Felix's best mate Sebastian (asleep upstairs as I type) whilst in the UK. We never found Rocket.
On our return we decided to (1) buy some more chickens and (2) move the chickens to a secure location within the rabbit exclusion zone.
How long does it take to buy 3 chickens? No this not a christmas cracker joke. Longer than you think is the answer. Luckily I had kept the telephone number of the geezer we had bought Rocket and Rosie from at St Front's mega bootfair. Duly set off to little place in the middle of nowhere just past Montpon. Arrived late as we had managed to drive past with out noticing the six billion chickens ducks geese etc next to the road. 3 hours later having had a personal introduction to every bird this guy had, and he had a lot I can tell you , a round of lagers, an aperitif (an interesting mix of pastis, menthe and water : bright fluorecent green and looks radioactive) we eventually left with 3 Parisiennes ,Tulip, Daisy and Rockie ( in memory of Rocket) another got thrown in called Blossom, three guinea pigs for free, a bag of walnuts and a yoghurt pot of quail eggs. Beats Asda any day and all for the staggering price of 15 Euros. Felix's joy was almost complete. For now.
By now the two coonoos with no name had been formally christened as Gloria ( as in Gaynor I will Survive) and Juliette, however Gloria morphed in to Michael ( as in George but you will need to talk to Felix about that one) and good old Juliette started knocking out the eggs. Joy. And they tasted fab.
More joy arrived on Felix's birthday in the shape of Titi. A present from Sebast. A fine looking coq if ever I saw one, and by now I felt I had seen quite a few cocks I can tell you. And I am not talking previous occupations.
In view of our anxiety about the cruelty of mother nature and dogs we had started to erect an enclosure and coup for the new possy. However the day before the move, the morning air was rendered assunder by the heart wrenching cry that emanated from my big boy's throat. More feathers. No Michael. But fortunately Juliette was untouched.The other five were all locked up as they were still new to the area, and Titi kept on legging it.More sadness.
The next day the remaing six were relocated to a safe house in the enclosure. There were now 3 barriers between the outside and their roosting spots.
For Felix's birthday Son ( who I feel is also slightly afflicted by the same interest ) had purchased on ebay an incubator. Juliette's remaining eggs (hopefully fertilised by Michael) and three goose eggs ( still in there) were placed in the self rotating humidifying dome. 21 days of anxiety passed. And then more joy as we all watched in awe as Chirpy Cheep Cheep [CCC}( were does he get these names) emerged. 'This is the joy of chickens' exclaimed Felix, quickly followed by a quick 'This is so intense'. More joy. Unfortunately none of the other eggs were successful. I performed a post mortem and to our distress two of the other had almost fully formed chicks within. We are currently unsure of the cause of death . Awating 'Tox' screen. Don't you just love CSI.
After 24 hours in the incubator, CCC, was moved to his new residence. 2 Pickford's removal boxes stuck together ; 2 rooms ( one for sleeping) the other acting as a breakfast room come toilet,with a viewing window cut in to the end. Son was concerned that CCC would become emotionally scarred being 100Watt Bulb Home alone (you can get special chicken rearing bulbs in our local supermarket, I bet you're jealous). So down the garden centre. You can only order a minimum of 5 one day old chicks.Monday night came the call. Felix and Son rushed to Duponteil and half an hour later 5 more little bundles arrived. An anxious first night passed without incident. As I type I can hear the little cheeping from Chez Pickford. Marvellous. More Joy.
As if that was not enough. Felix has only gone and spent his birthday money from Great Grandma (via ebay of course on 6 chicken eggs) which are due to arrive tomorrow. Black exhibition quality Orpingtons, if you are interested).
And as if that was not enough Tulip has knocked out 10more eggs and is now sitting. Juliette is banging them out too but doesn't seem interested in sitting, just shopping. But that's girls for you.
We have also been doing other stuff since the last one.
First Christmas with Ollie (No chicken we had duck).
Visited the UK : knackering, 5 residences in 10 days, good to see people, but good to be back home.
Visited Chateau Maryland with Jean Claud Jambon (Mr Ham) and Pascal. 5 hours of hard core wine tasting. A Bio producer, ie no chemicals so you don't get a hangover. I believe him. None of this spitting it out stuff. If you like it, the owner Philibert just refills your glass. After the 5 hours where I learnt loads and drank.... ..Bought 20 litres for 32 Euros and he threw in a bottle of Pineau (fab) a bottle from the year Felix was born and a bottle for the ladies at home. Excellent. One week later JCJ comes round and we bottle up. Unfortunately you can't drink it for at least two months.
Constructed two 3m x 2m ponds with fountains.
Shifted probably in excess of 20 tonnes of gravel for the courtyard and potager.
We now have 10 raised beds full of fruit and veg.
Made a potting bench with bespoke galvanised trays, staging for the greenhouse.
Got a submersible pump from a boot fair so now we can pump directly from one of our wells with a press of a button. Glorious colour water.
Had our first guests in the Gite, so needed a bit of frouing. Already over 18 weeks booked for this year.
Looking after a gorgeous user friendly, sleeping through the night, lovely boy. Lots of photos. Sorry. Proud Papa.
Had an architect draw up for our barn conversion ( he just plagiarized Son's drawings), plans submitted.
And that is about it.
Bye for now. Love Tony xxx
Haven't done one of these for a long time so apologies.
Obsession : a perfume? No a gift passed seemlessly from father to son.
Last year my focus was on rabbits (less of a problem but the ****ers still cause me grief). But now I feel as I have passed this approach to life on to Felix, and his love affair with chickens.But as with all love affairs it can be a path often tinged with great sadness and then with joy.
First came the sadness. Just before we returned to old blighty, one morning I went to check the post. Not only did I find bank statements but loads of plumes. All the chickens were absent, as I walked I found three coonoos( I am not sure this the correct spelling) and Rosie.The other two coonoos( with no names) and Rocket I failed to find. Nearby I discovered two golden labs who looked as if they had been to a footy match and eaten all the pies. Managed to catch the chicken murderers and took them to the Mairie, dumped the Poulet slaughterers and then on to the Gendarmairie. On our return home one of the coonoos appeared as if from nowhere( a little joy). Later that afternoon we had to collect the kids from school. Felix clocked something wasn't right when we went to buy some sweets on a Tuesday. On telling the news they both sobbed instantaneously. Felix wanted to see Rosie and as he stood and gazed on her stiff corpse a neighbour appeared and told us he had one of our chickens in his garden ( a little more joy mixed with profound sadness). We left the chickens with Felix's best mate Sebastian (asleep upstairs as I type) whilst in the UK. We never found Rocket.
On our return we decided to (1) buy some more chickens and (2) move the chickens to a secure location within the rabbit exclusion zone.
How long does it take to buy 3 chickens? No this not a christmas cracker joke. Longer than you think is the answer. Luckily I had kept the telephone number of the geezer we had bought Rocket and Rosie from at St Front's mega bootfair. Duly set off to little place in the middle of nowhere just past Montpon. Arrived late as we had managed to drive past with out noticing the six billion chickens ducks geese etc next to the road. 3 hours later having had a personal introduction to every bird this guy had, and he had a lot I can tell you , a round of lagers, an aperitif (an interesting mix of pastis, menthe and water : bright fluorecent green and looks radioactive) we eventually left with 3 Parisiennes ,Tulip, Daisy and Rockie ( in memory of Rocket) another got thrown in called Blossom, three guinea pigs for free, a bag of walnuts and a yoghurt pot of quail eggs. Beats Asda any day and all for the staggering price of 15 Euros. Felix's joy was almost complete. For now.
By now the two coonoos with no name had been formally christened as Gloria ( as in Gaynor I will Survive) and Juliette, however Gloria morphed in to Michael ( as in George but you will need to talk to Felix about that one) and good old Juliette started knocking out the eggs. Joy. And they tasted fab.
More joy arrived on Felix's birthday in the shape of Titi. A present from Sebast. A fine looking coq if ever I saw one, and by now I felt I had seen quite a few cocks I can tell you. And I am not talking previous occupations.
In view of our anxiety about the cruelty of mother nature and dogs we had started to erect an enclosure and coup for the new possy. However the day before the move, the morning air was rendered assunder by the heart wrenching cry that emanated from my big boy's throat. More feathers. No Michael. But fortunately Juliette was untouched.The other five were all locked up as they were still new to the area, and Titi kept on legging it.More sadness.
The next day the remaing six were relocated to a safe house in the enclosure. There were now 3 barriers between the outside and their roosting spots.
For Felix's birthday Son ( who I feel is also slightly afflicted by the same interest ) had purchased on ebay an incubator. Juliette's remaining eggs (hopefully fertilised by Michael) and three goose eggs ( still in there) were placed in the self rotating humidifying dome. 21 days of anxiety passed. And then more joy as we all watched in awe as Chirpy Cheep Cheep [CCC}( were does he get these names) emerged. 'This is the joy of chickens' exclaimed Felix, quickly followed by a quick 'This is so intense'. More joy. Unfortunately none of the other eggs were successful. I performed a post mortem and to our distress two of the other had almost fully formed chicks within. We are currently unsure of the cause of death . Awating 'Tox' screen. Don't you just love CSI.
After 24 hours in the incubator, CCC, was moved to his new residence. 2 Pickford's removal boxes stuck together ; 2 rooms ( one for sleeping) the other acting as a breakfast room come toilet,with a viewing window cut in to the end. Son was concerned that CCC would become emotionally scarred being 100Watt Bulb Home alone (you can get special chicken rearing bulbs in our local supermarket, I bet you're jealous). So down the garden centre. You can only order a minimum of 5 one day old chicks.Monday night came the call. Felix and Son rushed to Duponteil and half an hour later 5 more little bundles arrived. An anxious first night passed without incident. As I type I can hear the little cheeping from Chez Pickford. Marvellous. More Joy.
As if that was not enough. Felix has only gone and spent his birthday money from Great Grandma (via ebay of course on 6 chicken eggs) which are due to arrive tomorrow. Black exhibition quality Orpingtons, if you are interested).
And as if that was not enough Tulip has knocked out 10more eggs and is now sitting. Juliette is banging them out too but doesn't seem interested in sitting, just shopping. But that's girls for you.
We have also been doing other stuff since the last one.
First Christmas with Ollie (No chicken we had duck).
Visited the UK : knackering, 5 residences in 10 days, good to see people, but good to be back home.
Visited Chateau Maryland with Jean Claud Jambon (Mr Ham) and Pascal. 5 hours of hard core wine tasting. A Bio producer, ie no chemicals so you don't get a hangover. I believe him. None of this spitting it out stuff. If you like it, the owner Philibert just refills your glass. After the 5 hours where I learnt loads and drank.... ..Bought 20 litres for 32 Euros and he threw in a bottle of Pineau (fab) a bottle from the year Felix was born and a bottle for the ladies at home. Excellent. One week later JCJ comes round and we bottle up. Unfortunately you can't drink it for at least two months.
Constructed two 3m x 2m ponds with fountains.
Shifted probably in excess of 20 tonnes of gravel for the courtyard and potager.
We now have 10 raised beds full of fruit and veg.
Made a potting bench with bespoke galvanised trays, staging for the greenhouse.
Got a submersible pump from a boot fair so now we can pump directly from one of our wells with a press of a button. Glorious colour water.
Had our first guests in the Gite, so needed a bit of frouing. Already over 18 weeks booked for this year.
Looking after a gorgeous user friendly, sleeping through the night, lovely boy. Lots of photos. Sorry. Proud Papa.
Had an architect draw up for our barn conversion ( he just plagiarized Son's drawings), plans submitted.
And that is about it.
Bye for now. Love Tony xxx
