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The European Whip Snakes have hatched and the little ones, about 9" long, are wandering about. Florence, a free ranging 8 year old TNN, found one and stupidly tried to eat it. I noticed her shaking her head violently and backing away- a closer look and she had its tail in her beak and two coils...

We've been keeping chickens for 11 years now and today saw our first ever case of fly strike. We are very careful to wash bottoms as necessary but this happened just two days after inspection. Ruby, a Buff Orpington (had to be- they are really high maintenance), was brought in last night as she...

All our coops are wood, built in England 'flat-packed' to export. It can get quite hot and very windy so having closeable vents on opposite sides totalling at least 10% of the floor area is essential. We have perspex covers to give them light without wind. To keep the sun heat out I'm going to...

It took us 4 years to sell our house in England NicolsT due entirely to estate agent's lack of market knowledge, but it was worth the wait because as we gained experience we changed our purchase requirements considerably. Hopefully yours won't take that long. Nice weather down here as well and...

Rather late I know but welcome to the forum NicolsT. When you posted this we were just about to sign the Acte de Vente for our new home in Mirande, Gers and we were frantically loading the van and trailer for the first of 16 trips to move the household, gardening and chicken stuff. The chickens...

Hi Guillaume and welcome to the forum from an 'ex-pat' living near Auch in the Gers. Sure your English is better than my French! We use Google translate a lot as well. We started looking for property in the Lot when we came over 5 years ago, but ended up down here after the area was recommended...

A wall paper stripper wouldn't work Saraht- what you need is a fine jet of pressurised steam to get into all the cracks and gaps.

Hello and welcome Saraht. You may find plastic distorts badly in hot temperatures- we brought a Solway over from the UK and there is no way we would risk it outside in Summer (I am a retired plastics engineer). I don't expect an Omlet coop would survive down here either. The other factor is the...

Just three weeks on from my previous 'paralysis' post and I found Poppy was missing when the coop was checked last night. She was in the run, collapsed in a corner unable to stand but was fine a few hours earlier. Bought her in and she started to overheating as before so she had 50mg of Asprin...

Sorting through old issues of Practical Poultry (with a view to reducing the volume when we move) I came across 'Fun Facts' in the March 2011 issue. "If a cockerel isn't present in a flock of hens, the dominant hen will sometimes take on the role, stop laying and begin to crow. This is rare...

Had a real shock days ago during the early morning coop cleaning. One of our young Leghorn Bantams (Poppy) was lying 'dead' on the floor. No signs of life at all but not stone cold, so she must have died in the last hour. She was fine the previous evening and was roosting on her usual perch. We...

Thought it worth sharing this experience. We have on occasion had eggs dropped from the hens roosting on the perches at night. There are several reasons for this that we were previously aware of:- Fright- a predator or unusual disturbance. Stress- overcrowding leading to fighting for perch space...

Hello Alan2886 and welcome to the forum from another resident in France enjoying the very mild Winter indeed. Our chickens like it too.

Seems we had our first case of Botulism yesterday afternoon. Ruby, a French Buff Orpington, was fine at 2.00pm but at 3.00pm was struggling to walk. We first suspected an injury and put Arnica gel on a hot knee joint. But after watching her wobbling about and then seeing her fall off a low perch...

When we started breeding Blue Laced Wyandottes we were told to expect 25% of the hatch to be gold laced and 25% to be buff laced, which is exactly what we got. These are the derivative colours of 'blue', which in reality is grey. I was rather puzzled by the terminology, because lacing is the...

The dog started barking at midday, which is usually because the postie has a package that needs signing for. So I went outside to see and was confronted by the sight of a TANK parked in the driveway. A soldier wandered over to me and explained they were on manoeuvres and could they park it in...

Hello Jay and welcome. Tasmania must be an amazing place to live. You mentioning Turkeys reminds me of our trip out yesterday to order one for Noel, because you can't buy a whole turkey in the supermarkets down here. The place breeds about 100 for sale every year -Gers Noir (black Gascone)...

Hello from the warm dry hills of Gascony (at the moment) Themuttsknutts. Thing about here is it can be 20C one day and -10C the next though! Do you breed these chickens or are they just 'pets'? Nice that they have so much land to roam in. Ours have to be very securely enclosed here because the...

Hello Eleanna and welcome to the forum. I visited Alonissos by Dolphin from Skopelos many years ago (perhaps 30). Seem to remember half the island was a military base and no-one at all spoke any English- a lovely unspoilt place. Rhode Island Reds are a good laying breed. Yours have travelled a...

Welcome to the forum Exotica. I've read your post- sounds like the breeder is a complete idiot. Setting aside the money, those chicks should have been properly transported. Hope your others are doing fine and keep any dogs well away from them. Even if they don't get eaten it will stress the chicks.