Well,I'm living in France and for the first time in my life in the country, coming from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. On our land was a coop, came with house and last year I started asking around if someone had some young chickens for me, and with succes.
Here in this part of France (Limousin region) and specially in our village, it is like in the 1900ths or before, the elderly people work manually, no machineries, and my neighbour (92) used to work with oxes, when she was young, having no tractor.
Well, one day one of our friends called and could hecome along and bring three chickens, who would be otherwise killed and be eaten or put in the freezer. He brought a carton box, tied together with this agricultural string, just cut the string and held the box upside down, when in the coop. That was that. They were frightened at first, but after a day or 2 they became calm and recognized me, begging for their food.
In the meantime I made a fence, so they could go outside, but the first day out, when I checked on them, they were standing outside their space in the rain, and couldn't go back in, poor darlings.They obviously had been flying over the fence. Well, from that day on, I left the door open, let them exploring the land, the meadows and our village and they seem to be very content. They're always waiting for me in the evening, when I put them in bed.
My friend and neighbour gave me one of her roosters, also born last year, who was fighting all the time with the other one of her flock, so I hope one of them will get broody, but it is not sure at all. In the neigbouring village lives an elderly couple, surrounded by free walking farm animals (ducks, chickens, geese, dogs, cats etc ) and last year they showed me in a room in their house a broody chicken, sitting on I don't how many chicks, baby ducks and two very young kittens. It is paradise revisited. I can always bring them some fertile eggs and let one off their chickens do the job, they assured me.
