I had planned to do this post last week but the arrival of our gorgeous piglets meant I had to delay it for a week. So for this week's Animal Tales I would like to introduce you to our furred and feathered friends here at Eco-Gites of Lenault.
The Animals at Eco-Gites of Lenault
The Chickens
A motley groups of feathered beauties, a few of whom have names - Fluffy Chick, The Buffy Girls, Baptista and Bianca to be precise. They lay us eggs pretty much all year round and we have not had to buy eggs since we first got hens a few months after moving to France.
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| Our chickens with Fluffy Chick to the right |
Runner Ducks
The Runner ducks are *supposed* to be magnificent egg layers but we managed to buy the only non-good egg laying Runner duck in Normandy. We used to have more runners but Lucy turned out to be Lucius so we sold him, Edna died suddenly and Jemima just disappeared one day, no doubt becoming dinner for Monsieur Renard.
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| Edith and Edna with Ernest |
Muscovy Ducks
These are our meat birds who we breed from each year - they are much heavier and I have learnt the hard way that it is not a good idea to stand in front of the door when you let them out. Duck wings might look soft but they are not when they slap you in the face first thing in the morning! Our breeding trio go by the names of Harold, Hilda and Hettie.
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| Muscovy Ducks |
Turkeys
Now I am not sure if this is politically correct but when it comes to turkeys they are *ermmm* not very bright - a friend and I say that they share a brain cell and on a bad day they give it to her husband! Normally we don't name our turkeys as they are not here too long before taking a one way journey to the oven/freezer but this year one male slipped in with the other females I ordered and he struts around with so much stuttiness that I felt he deserved a name .... and Errol Flynn was the first name to come into my head!
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| Guests admiring Errol Flynn and one of his ladies! |
Sheep
We used to keep a ram and a couple of ewes and breed sheep but Rammy became rather difficult towards me (in other words he lived up to his name and tried to charge/ram me on more than one occasion) so we sold him and the ewes and now just buy in ewes and/or lambs in the spring. This year we bought the most nervous ewe on the planet, Betty Boo and her 2 slightly less nervous lambs, Bob and Beau. We have since sold Betty Boo on and her boys will be taking that one way journey to the freezer fairly soon.
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| Betty Boo with Bob and Beau this spring |
Pigs
As you know if you read my #AnimalTales post last week Coco Chanel gave birth to 8 piglets recently. The piglets are growing fast but I am yet to name them - although a few names are spinning around my head including Black Tail, Spotty and Orange .... nothing too original there then! Our other pigs include Dad - Boris Johnson and the girls, Charlotte Rampling and Peardrop the Adorable! Of these I think Charlotte is the naughtiest!
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| Charlotte in the house! |
Goat
A few days ago we took a phone call from a friend asking if we knew anyone who wanted to re-home a goat who had been abandoned at another friend .... which is why our newest additional to our menagerie is Maddie Madras the goat. So much for a free goat though - she has cost us a small fortune in electric fencing and a new goat-sized shelter. Welcome to Eco-Gites, Maddie!
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| Maddie Madras |
I hope you have enjoyed our little tour of the farm animal at Eco-Gites of Lenault. I am sure their antics will be appearing in many blogs over the coming months!
Who do you think you would most like to meet if you came to Eco-Gites of Lenault? Would it be Errol Flynn, Fluffy Chick or naughty Charlotte Rampling?
Oh I'm so envious of your animals! Though not sure I'd want a pig/piglets, though I find them really cute :) #animaltales.
ReplyDeleteYou are right about piglets - they are cure but hard work. It won't be long until this lot try and trip me up and I land flat on my back in the mud!
DeleteOh no, goats are a nightmare. Hope yours is better behaved than the 2 that used to live at the farm down the road, when they weren't escaping over to ours.
ReplyDeleteWe've got a few turkeys on the farm, and you're right, thy are pretty stupid!
Now we have spent out on the electric fence she has stayed in but you are right - they are great escape artists. I also had a horned goat as a child and boy did she know who to use those weapons! Luckily Maddie is much more calm! And turkeys, yup, most definitely not top of the class!!
DeleteI've always hada soft spot for pigs and those piglets just confirm it. Turkeys are just too ugly for words (I don't care if that's not PC either!)
ReplyDeletePiglets are adorable but soon turn into porcine hooligans and turkeys are both thick and ugly! There, I've said it!
DeleteHow wonderful, you had me at piglets! I wish we had space for some livestock but will have to settle for our cat and lots of farm trips! #AnimalTales
ReplyDeleteThat's the best way to do it though - all the fun of the animals and no vet bills or mucking out!!
DeleteLucas says - If I'm a really good boy, can I please come and stay with you as I really want a goat and a pig but the Mother says 'No!!' Your place sounds so cool.
ReplyDeleteThe Mothers say - We're loving the comment about the Turkeys!!! #animaltales
Of course you can come and stay, Lucas! You need to point Mum in the direction of our gite website and then you can help me feed all the animals ;) http://www.eco-gites.eu/
DeleteWhat a great post. It must be fab being around all those animals. Our neighbour has chickens but unfortunately Ash sees them as a bit of a game so we have to be careful!!! #animaltales
ReplyDeleteTell Ash from me he's a naughty lad! We keep our chickens in a dog proof field so when we have visiting dogs they are not tempted to chase them.
DeleteI love that they all have names even if it might not be for long and a big welcome to Maddie! I think Runner Ducks look so graceful but I didn't realise that different breeds produce the eggs and meat that I enjoy. Every day's a schoolday :)
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