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| One of Seans beautiful roosters (his photo not mine) |
Jack has a unique knack of finding the strangest, most unusual and most interesting people in the county. Yesterday he talked myself and Leslie into going with him to visit his friend Harry who lives down the road from Sean. Sean specalises in breeding some of the rarest chickens, ducks and fowl in the world. He lives on what I can only describe as a (three quartes of an acre) zoo packed with chick nurseries, egg hatcheries, various houses and enclosures for his fowl and a pretty canal running right around that is home to many many types of ducks. There are even goldfish, and a bar! All in all one of the most unexpected places I was at in an age. But Seans pure joy and enthuasim for his birds is the most breathtaking of all. He used to be a posh chef, now hs a chicken man. Probably the "crazy chicken man" to everyone in the neighbourhod.
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| "dancin at the disco bumper to bumper"-chick disco |
He sells these birds to other chicken enthuasists and if you are gardening you can't escape the fact that every second person growing their own wants chickens too, so the chicken trade is a lucrative one. Holding a three week old fluffy young chicken I almost got out the wallet myself but thought the better of it as I pictured explaining to my husband where the chicken came from while Ginger chased it around the house! Leslie is the real chicken enthuasist. He could rattle off breeds and discuss which ones to cross with which. I could see by the glint in his eye he was sorry to have to go. If he hadent promised to milk 90 cows he would still be there discussing chickens with Sean!
I was asking about which layed the tastiest eggs or made the most delicious roast chicken. Turns out Sean prefers a delicious Duck-a sensible man. Chicken breast is the most boring meat alive. Once I got him going though he gave me a great recipie for chicken breast with a posh sauce that he swears by . So he is obviously still passionate about food. He planted loads of fruit trees but his wifes pigmy goat ate them all! Needless to say when she went to hospital to have their daughter the goat got his marching papers.
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| Some delectable ducks |
We left the tour delighted with all we had seen and learned (my brain was exploding with chicken facts) and I was surprised how much chicken care has in common with vegetable care. I think I could actually look after a few chickens( maybe even a few tasty ducks too!!). It's amazing how fragile the freshly hatched chickens looked and how strong they got after even just a few hours. That was the coolest thing, seeing baby chickens at the various ages in the chick nursery. If chickens are your thing go see this guy;
Sean, the crazy chicken man
myfeathersdale.webs.com
MARIE, Hello hello - hope all well with you. I never realized we had such a chicken fanatic so close by! Brilliant to know about......soundtrack he has uploaded on his website is very funny.
ReplyDeleteLucky you too with your greenhouse! I've got seedlings everywhere at the moment....and I heard an interesting thing the other day re spuds. Have you ever heard of growing phacelia with them? Keep the weeds at bay and then dig back in. Liked the idea.
Please say hello to Jack. I love reading your blog ! x e
That soundtrack is bonkers!
ReplyDeleteI never heard that about spuds but what a great idea! Thank you Eliza I will be sure to try it out with my maincrop spuds, many of which are yet to go in the ground. My father told me there was no rush, apparently we always planted main crop spuds at home in Clare in may and Harry Jacks friend repeated the same thing-I think these old timers know a thing or two. Will say a big hello to Jack, would love to catch up with you, Miriam and Heather
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Hi Marie, I had seedlings on the bedroom windowsills, most are now on the allotment apart from the Sweetcorn which is under fleece at home.Great idea about the Phacelia and spuds.A friend up the country says you can put in potatoes as long as you can see through the Ash Tree!The Ash is one of the trees very slow to put out leaves this year so it is easy to see through!
ReplyDeleteRead your post on Montenotte with interest, a lot of those old terraces had their gardens to the front and most of them are overgrown or turned into car parks.
Hi Peggy! I better get a move on so! the ash trees are filling out nicely around here.The gardens in montenotte have been finished , I must do a post on them soon. Too busy gardening to blog-a good complaint I suppose! Are you going to Bloom? I'm up on Friday and possibly Saturday too. Looking forward to it.
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