After all of the excitement of giving the chicken coop (‘Poulailler’ in French) a mini renovation, sweeping, scrubbing down the floor and walls, giving everything a re-paint and freshen-up, oh and of course painting some inspirational messages aimed at hens on the walls for them, the big day was finally here time to go and get some new ladies to add into the Butcher fold.
We had a 40 minute drive to a farm in the middle of nowhere. Eventually upon arrival we parked in the farmyard and went over to inspect the hens that were for sale. They were patiently waiting in their crates in the shade of the barn, lined up ready for selection. We decided to choose one of each colour that was available. We both agreed not to go for the other option available that day – point-of-lay quails. We added on a couple of large bags of mixed hen feed and some hay bales to the purchase and soon we were on our way home with our new additions.
Upon arrival we took them into the coop. The boxes were open but the ladies were a little shy to come out. With some gentle coaxing they were soon out and into their new home.
After exploring the inside for 24 hours we let them out into the back garden area where they were keen to stretch their legs and sun bathe in the dry soil.
Within 24 hours to much excitement, we had our first egg. No more supermarket eggs for us!
The next day Dad/Father in Law Mike arrived with his trailer and a hand built nest box. It has steps for the ladies. He also donated some grit for the hens to make the egg shells stronger.
There was only one thing missing now to complete the coop – a framed photo of Foghorn Leghorn, the ladies needed some eye candy!!
We let our Youtube channel viewers have some input to decide what the ladies should be named. We settled on the most popular:
Grey hen – Bordeaux.
White hen – Chablis.
Red hen – Cognac
Light Grey hen – Edith.
The ladies are really enjoying their coop and the garden area. All four are laying one egg per day… so with 28 eggs per week it is definitely helping to give Merlot and Flora special eggy dinners.
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