Hello from County Mayo Ireland

[Patsonline]

Hello Everyone, I have been a hobby breeder for the last ten years and also have been interested in rare breed poultry, In the past i have bred Green Legged Partridge fowl, silver spangled hamburgs, orange pencilled friesian fowl, and La Bresse Gaulois. Now I just breed Black Croad Langshans, i simply love the breed.

 

[chrismahon]

Hello Patsonline and welcome to the forum. A great selection of breeds listed there. La Bresse Gaulois is a native breed in France obviously. But our local breed is the Black Gascone- a sort of black Leghorn I would think. Loads of them around us, although the French here are beginning to become aware of the pretty, but less productive, breeds and keep them. Orpingtons in every colour possible can be sourced locally, as well as Wyandottes.

 

[Patsonline]

Ahhh I am very pleased to meet you Paul, and thank you very much for the warm welcome to the forum. The black Gascone sound an interesting breed .. i just know i shall be googling them. i imagine you have such a nicer climate over there in France for breeding and keeping poultry, especially for the feather legged ones anyway.

 

[chrismahon]

Our local breeder hatches all year round Patsonline. But its not as easy as you would think. Problems in this area begin with very high winds -there are no wind turbines here as they would blow over. Also hot summers mean that the fluffier ones have to go inside a stone barn to keep cool. The rain season is short but all of it arrives so fast that the ground turns to slush and you can sink into it. With the rain comes high winds that drive water into the coops through the tiniest gaps and vents have to be shut windward. Our chickens generally love it though as Winter is warmer and dryer than the UK. The air is very dry here so wooden coops see rapid expansion in rain and contraction afterwards. The sun melts roofing felt so the coops need shade. Still prefer it here though. I don't have to worry at night that someone is stealing our chickens -nothing here is locked.

 

[Patsonline]

Ahh well Chris .. i am fortunate enough to share that lack of worry about my stock, in fact i do not, and never have locked any of my sheds here, even with my brush cutter and tools in, aren't we lucky in that respect? i do however have my hands full with predators, such as fox, badger, and pine martin.

 

[chrismahon]

Our biggest predators are stray hunting dogs Patsonline. They can (and have) torn through chicken wire. The foxes are timid here and won't come in the daytime, unlike England, unless the crops around us have grown enough to give them cover, so we have 3 months high risk (starting now). We had Pine Martin in the Dordogne which cleaned their teeth on your wiper blades and brake hoses but didn't like chicken wire -you had to try you brakes very time you went out in the car, but there are none here. Wild boar can cause havoc, but we haven't seen any of them yet fortunately.

You may need to google 'poulet de gascone noir' to get info on Black Gascones. I haven't tried it myself.

 

[tygrysek75]

Hi Pats
Friend of mine also live same region as you.You have very interesting breeds .I have 1 GLPF at the moment too,the cockerels where so aggressive so I had to get rid of them. Croads are very nice breed ,just recently helped my friend to get some hatching eggs.What color eggs yours laying? I hope to see some pictures of your birds,please.

 

[Patsonline]

Hi Pats
Friend of mine also live same region as you.You have very interesting breeds .I have 1 GLPF at the moment too,the cockerels where so aggressive so I had to get rid of them. Croads are very nice breed ,just recently helped my friend to get some hatching eggs.What color eggs yours laying? I hope to see some pictures of your birds,please.

Hello, Pleased to chat with you. Currently my Croad Langshans are laying around 50% of the pink blush coloured eggs and the rest made up of either a speckled plum coloured or light tan coloured egg. They truly are a great utility bird and so placid, so noble in their stance. Ah yes the Green Legged Partridge fowl, a native of Poland, a great hardy breed. I found them to be great foragers, first up and always last to roost. In the years that I bred them I never encountered one vicious Cock bird. I hope to get organised and show some photos soon.
Patrick