This article was written by Camille, a story about her chickens and her great rooster : Alma 🙂

It’s Camille expressing herself in the article

My first chickens

I’ve always wanted to have chickens, when we moved to the countryside it was obvious that there would be a place for them in our garden. In addition to giving us some fresh free-range eggs, we were hoping our chickens would become friendly pets. We love seeing them run towards us when we call them with something to eat !

Lynda

My husband and I had spent a lot of time renovating the old chicken coop and I couldn’t wait to fill it with some lovely feathered friends ! I bought my first two hens at a local market. I had noticed 2 small chicks who seemed a bit lost in a big box and I took them home with me ! That’s how it all started, with a Marans and a Hamburg chick.

I came back home from the market and set my chickens free in what seemed to me like a chicken-friendly environment. Unfortunately I had underestimated the local buzzard and the hamburg chick was almost immediately fatally attacked 🙁 A very special bond linked the only survivor, Lynda (Marans) to me…she’s still with us today and remains one of my favorites !

Creating a family

I started looking for some other chickens to keep her company and discovered pekin bantams, it was love at first site ! A few weeks later I welcomed home 7 pekin baby chicks, took great care of them and they turned out to be beautiful and healthy adults. But there was a major problem…there were only 2 hens for 5 roosters ! After tragically losing the most friendly one, Taylor, I managed to give 2 of them away.

The only 2 left, Charlie and Lafayette, became very agressive, especially towards our children so I had to find them a new home in a closed area. My chickens run freely in our garden, they really needed to be kept under control.

I need a rooster !

Lynda, Scarlett, Pearl, and the others needed a proper rooster to take care of them and alert them in case of danger approaching.

I already knew Gaëlle back then, I had bought fertilized eggs from her. We got along well and she asked me if I wanted to take Alma home 🙂 He was one of her favorites, she had developed a special bond with him.

Unable to keep all the animals she breeds, she gave me this young cross-breed rooster who is in fact, P’Ang‘s big brother !!

His parents are :

🙂

She’s also P’Ang‘s mother 🙂

I was very happy to welcome him, he’s the rooster that everyone dreams of having ! He’s gentle (I was used to having small aggressive feather balls !), sweet, patient and affectionate towards his hens. He loves coming to us for a treat and is always making sure that his hens are where they should be ! It’s a pleasure to see him in the morning, always in a good mood ! He really deserves a round of applause for the way he handles his family members and their little ones 🙂 He’s a very ‘active’ father and many chicks have been born for the past 2 years ! You usually recognize them easily because they have feather tufts on their heads 🙂

Here’s a small video where you can see him in his environment :

I really want to thank Gaëlle for letting me have this great guy !

He really is THE BEST !!