The coops were needed anyway Tygrysek. Took a year to build them with runs and extra linking panels. Took timber and materials with me, set up a workshop in the trailer and repaired some runs, extended others and built a proper coop for the bantams. The enclosure in the Dordogne took 3 months to build (using trees as anchors for the straining wires hanging the mesh) and 2 days to dismantle. It took 2 months to rebuild here as it is more complicated with no trees to use for the straining wires, but we have added windbreaks and a second fence all round as well.
We haven't sold our house in the UK yet, which is a blessing in disguise really. Haven't found anything worth buying yet. Because of our experience in the Dordogne with bad property we can see all the faults in houses we are looking at. We wouldn't have realised all the problems if we had sold and bought quickly and would have got something totally wrong in the wrong place. Many Brits buy here and move again. Many buy in France and move back to the UK after the first Winter. The weather here is no better than the UK and in some places far worse. The rain turns the ground to mush unless you put your chickens on a slight slope for drainage. We have many days of continuous torrential rain and high winds in Winter but in Summer may have no rain for 3 months and the ground sets like concrete. So water for the garden (and the chicken runs) has to be stored in large ponds because a well cannot supply enough.
The enclosure isn't quite finished yet as we need some Chestnut or Acacia posts for permanent fencing within the enclosure and it is too wet to do yet. But we have a video camera now (for recording properties visited) and I might use it to show our setup, as it is quite different to anything I have seen before and would give people some ideas.
