At the beginning of February I wrote:
We’re doing it again
10 eggs of different colors, very soft sky blue, white, dark chocolate, speckled milk chocolate, cream, gray, mustard… and of different sizes, from small to big… have been in the small incubator in the dining room since the beginning of February. We turn them 4 times a day and check the water level.
It is the fabulous mystery of life within the small shells and before our eyes that is being played out and that in a few days will be revealed… or not. Sébastien told me, all the roosters and hens are of various pure breeds but they live together without segregation so we don’t know what all these little ones will look like…
We only have two hens left and I haven’t been able to buy any more hens anywhere since the fake bird flu has scared producers away from the markets. This evening our two little ones moved into the new chicken coop which is now finished and can accommodate a dozen of these ladies in a large grassy area protected from the Fox and the Ferret.
I planted some cuttings of shrubs there, which will provide shade in summer over time and also planted climbing roses along their enclosure for the same reason. There are a few plum trees growing back after being mowed by the donkeys and which will do very well.
With a bit of luck our 10 eggs will give us 10 chickens who will join them in July. But let’s not sell the bear’s skin…
With the chickens moving out the question becomes: what to do with our single guinea fowl? Being alone she needs company. Give her away? I would have loved to find her a foster home but who would adopt her when she would not be able to join an established group of guinea fowls without being bullied and killed by them? We had tried to incorporate her with our chickens, fatal error: our chickens were mercilessly tortured.
So I went to get her a friend from a farm near Caylus and the reunion of these two was heartwarming. Our lonely guinea fowl spent her days pacing up and down the fence that separated her from the chickens without understanding the reason for this cursed fence. The arrival of her friend changed everything. They tell each other lots of things, follow each other everywhere joyfully and lightly, share seeds like treasures… and in the evening we find them side by side ready for the night on the big branch that crosses their enclosure. The departure of the chickens no longer concerns them. Phew!
On the other hand, at Lena’s, it’s a different story: first of all the neighbor’s dog killed half her chickens. I have never seen Lena so upset, and for good reason! She had asked the neighbour many times to fence her house. Yes, Yes, the neighbour had promised … but nothing.
Then the ferret came by and killed a few more. There weren’t many left after that. How sad! It must be said that her chickens are so much more than chickens for Lena. They are company, a reason to live and to get up in the morning. Knowing the ferret was around, she couldn’t sleep at night.
In summer time when we go for coffee under her big ash tree in front of her house, they are there, all around us scratching and cackling, each one as pretty as the next, each with her assigned rooster who takes care of her and everything is harmonious and peaceful…Above the swifts come and go out of a hole in the barn door, the owls roost in the building opposite, pigeons can be heard on the roofs. A charming idyllic country scene for sure. Well, that was before the tragedy of course.
The ferret got lured into a trap and taken away to resume its ferret’s life. I was magnificent, Lena told me. The shed has been worked on and secured, holes filled and broken tiles replaced and cemented… The guilty neighbor has brought her a very handsome rooster hoping for a peace deal. He is beautiful but too big for the 4 hens left.
So that’s how Pavarotti came to live with us. I can’t keep it, she sighs, he now attacks the 3 silk hens that I’ve have just been given. I’ll home your rooster for you Lena but it’s for 2 months max. After that we’re going to need the enclosure for our little chicks. Yes, I’m going to put it on Facebook she tells me. The guinea fowl and the rooster seem to be getting along fine next to each other on either side of the fence.
March 12th update
7 lively little chicks are in a large transformed apple box by the window in the living room. Couscous has decided that the top of the box that has a blanket on it, is the best place to sleep.
2 big whites ones with a couple of black specks, 3 very small blacks ones with white undersides and 2 stripey ones in light and dark brown tones. 3 eggs didn’t hatch. When I opened the shells out of curiosity, 2 of the eggs had not been fertilized and the 3rd one was a dead fully formed chick. I had turned off the incubator on the 27th day and it looked like this last remaining chick needed just another day…
Something that had surprised us is that this batch of chicks got born on the 23rd, 24th and 25th day which is very late indeed. When nothing happened on the 22nd day I called Mireille to enquire if she still had some hens and cockers but she hadn’t no more. She said she now gets her eggs from Amedee. I was thinking about starting a new batch in the incubator but then they started to hatch. What a relief!
The couple of times previous when we had some eggs in our incubator, all the chicks hatched on the 21st and 22nd day as they “normally” do.
2 weeks old and their wings are developing fast. They try them out running up and down and across the box creating chaos. Beginnings of tails are forming on some of them. On the stripey ones the wings look like pretty little frocks. Male? Female? Please let us have mainly females. They are so sweet…and so busy!
Time to prepare a space for them in an outside shed and with protected access to outdoor grass.
La dame aux ânes 