The chickens have escaped!

I wanted to report that the public shaming of my chickens had the wonderful effect of starting them laying overnight! Sadly this has not happened. But we have, nonetheless, started getting some eggs! Ian visited a friend and came home with two beautiful Bantams in need of a home. These two girls lay to their (and my) heart’s content… eggy-bread is back on the menu!!!

My daft hens haven’t yet twigged that this is what they should be doing, I’ve showed them the eggs and shouted “Look, an egg!” to no avail. Instead, I found them huddled in a corner with the two new girls, trying to brain-wash them into joining their cause-less cause.

The new girls are still laying, 10 days after arriving, which proves to me that conditions in Chicken-topia are wonderful and that my old chickens don’t lay because they are LAZY, AND POSSIBLY DESTINED FOR THE POT!!

What is wrong with my chickens? Why do they defy me? It used to be that they were constantly escaping from their enclosures, but I put a stop to that with the 12 foot wall topped with razor-wire and look-out posts (well, actually some chicken fencing). But now I look at them – 4 chickens living in a 200 sq metre paradise garden (that’s 50 metres each!). They sleep in a large, limestone barn which they have all to themselves, they have bountiful supplies of water, dirt, grass, straw. They have treats from the kitchen every day. The cockerel has strategic vantage points from which to crow and strut his stuff. And the views… well, people would pay good money for those.

And yet, when it comes to giving me a little compensation for all I have done for them; in the form of, say, the occasional egg… Nothing. Nada. Rien! We’ve seen no eggs for 2 months! I am coming to the conclusion that my lazy chickens are not worth keeping alive, in fact it may be time to put them in the oven before they get too old and chewy. They scorn my Chicken-topia and they’ve turned their backs on their natural instincts in a malicious bid to deprive us of eggs!

Since 1^st July, the French energy market has been opened up to competition. This means you can now leave EDF (previously the ONLY choice for domestic customers) and choose an electricity supplier which relies less on nuclear power.

To help you decide, Greenpeace have published a league table of the French power suppliers. The out-and-out leader is Enercoop, who source 100% renewable energy, then there are several mid-range providers, with EDF coming second to last.

Have a look at the Greenpeace report, and think about changing your energy supplier for one that fits in with your personal ethos.