Scots in France
Songster
Hiya, my name is Anne and I moved from Edinburgh, Scotland to the Gers region in the South of France in June 2020, with my partner, our cat & pet terrapin.
Our new neighbour keeps chickens but works long hours. My first experience with them wasn't great as the 3 hens scratched up nearly every plant I put in the garden!
One of the hens vanished (fox maybe?!) and the other 2 went broody, so our neighbour bought 3 poussins.
About a month later our neighbour got 3 more poussins & put them in with the flock - didn't go down well and they were chased out! I spent the next couple of weeks trying to keep them safe - they were hiding in the hedgerow and very timid.
After about a month there was only 1 left and I managed to coax him into roosting in an old rabbit hutch. Not wanting to give him a proper name I called him "Baby-baby".
He was starting to hang out on the outskirts of the flock though the original 2 hens have little patience for him! He's now about 4 months old and growing up to be a very handsome boy!
Then our neighbour got another 5 poussins and fortunately one of the original poussins is very gentle and I managed to get her to roost with the little ones to bring them into the flock...
So now there are 11 chickens, 3 boys (2 will be dinner, tho not "Baby-baby"!).
The flock is free ranging over a couple of acres, been fed supplemental organic grain over the winter, and 4 hens are now laying regularly!
We are renovating a permaculture garden that had grown wild after several years of neglect, and are creating an organic garden to grow as many of our veggies as possible! New poly tunnel to be set up next month..
I am also a Holistic Therapist and we want to run our holiday home as a retreat for people who need to / want to reconnect with nature.
We are very fortunate to be surrounded by countryside with very few neighbours, lots of trees and a large prairie 4 hectares that we are planning on planting trees in and creating a pond.
Its a huge learning curve for me as a town / city kid all my life, but I am loving country life! 
Our next big project is building a new hen house and fencing a run for the hens and extra fencing around my flower beds and vegetable plots!
I have been able to keep them away so far by digging worms for them on other parts of the land to distract them!
Looking forward to sharing my progress and learning LOTS!
Namaste
Our new neighbour keeps chickens but works long hours. My first experience with them wasn't great as the 3 hens scratched up nearly every plant I put in the garden!
One of the hens vanished (fox maybe?!) and the other 2 went broody, so our neighbour bought 3 poussins.
About a month later our neighbour got 3 more poussins & put them in with the flock - didn't go down well and they were chased out! I spent the next couple of weeks trying to keep them safe - they were hiding in the hedgerow and very timid.
After about a month there was only 1 left and I managed to coax him into roosting in an old rabbit hutch. Not wanting to give him a proper name I called him "Baby-baby".
He was starting to hang out on the outskirts of the flock though the original 2 hens have little patience for him! He's now about 4 months old and growing up to be a very handsome boy!
Then our neighbour got another 5 poussins and fortunately one of the original poussins is very gentle and I managed to get her to roost with the little ones to bring them into the flock...
So now there are 11 chickens, 3 boys (2 will be dinner, tho not "Baby-baby"!).
The flock is free ranging over a couple of acres, been fed supplemental organic grain over the winter, and 4 hens are now laying regularly!
We are renovating a permaculture garden that had grown wild after several years of neglect, and are creating an organic garden to grow as many of our veggies as possible! New poly tunnel to be set up next month..
I am also a Holistic Therapist and we want to run our holiday home as a retreat for people who need to / want to reconnect with nature.
We are very fortunate to be surrounded by countryside with very few neighbours, lots of trees and a large prairie 4 hectares that we are planning on planting trees in and creating a pond.
Its a huge learning curve for me as a town / city kid all my life, but I am loving country life!
Our next big project is building a new hen house and fencing a run for the hens and extra fencing around my flower beds and vegetable plots!
I have been able to keep them away so far by digging worms for them on other parts of the land to distract them!
Looking forward to sharing my progress and learning LOTS!
Namaste
Glad you joined.
Glad you joined! Everyone here is very kind and helpful, I'm sure you'll find answers to any questions you may have! 
