Much to our surprise, six chickens (a rooster and 5 hens) came with the house we bought in Le Bic this past June. We've enjoyed watching the chickens wonder around the garden, seek us out at feeding time, and collecting their eggs. A well equipped coop makes tending them quite easy. After feeding them in the early morning, I open up the coop, and off they go into the garden. About 5, they get 'dinner'. By sunset, they wonder back into the coop. Sometime later, I close and lock the door. I occasionally encounter a red fox in the nearby National Park, but I've yet to see one in the neighborhood, nor any other potential predator.
Because we head back to Asheville this week, the chicken guy came by the house to collect his chickens - turns out, we had them on loan for the summer. In addition to having a couple hundred chickens, he has what the locals call a 'sugar shack', a place where sap from sugar maple trees is boiled down to make maple syrup and other sugary products. Perhaps he also has a sugar maple orchard to go with the sugar shack.
After packing up the chickens, he had a surprise gift, a can of maple syrup from his sugar shack and a small bag of raw maple sugar. He assured us we could "borrow" chickens again next summer. He's one of the many friendly Canadians we've met this summer.
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Chickens feeding on grain in front of their chicken coup.
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When the chicken guy picked up his chickens at the end of the season,
he surprised us with a gift of pure maple syrup and maple sugar |
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