Hello to you all,
What a fantasticaly informative web site, obviously used by eager and knowledgable people. I hope to utilise some of your tips and hope that I too, can contribute something of use or interest to others. Thanks to John.
I posted a request for help with my rooster on 30-09-06 but got no replies. He seems to be fine now but still not what he used to be.
Just as an introduction, I moved with my wife and 13 year old son, to France 10 months ago to a small 'farm' of around 10 acres.
We bought '4 hens and 4 ducks', however, the ducks turned into geese, and the hens turned into 2 hens and 2 cockerels. a mistake that any idiot could make. In my defence, they were very young, I think we lost something in the translation.
As 'Del Boy' once said, "The word for duck in French is canard"... But let me tell you, the word for geese is even harder!...........Oh well please youself.
We love them to bits now though. How do you sex geese and when do they start to lay?
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Not having done anything on this scale before, the task of caring for the land was quite daunting.
We were and still are so busy as the property has to be renovated and one of the barns is to be turned into a gite. (I'm changing the roof from asbestos sheeting to the traditional slate at the moment.)
We have not done a lot with the main part of the land at this time but turned it to hay. We have had plenty of veggies and fruit from our small front garden though and look forwards to lots more next year.
I will post more news if people are interested.
Best wishes to you all.