Our guesthouse counts with 10 hens since 2023. Discover our new residents !
We settled down 4 years ago in the beautiful region of Varmia. For 4 years we have been dreaming of having our own eggs and welcoming our own little hens.
Obviously, very quickly, reality caught up with us and we had many other priorities to welcome our guests. We had to refresh the summer kitchen, to create a common area (our today “Swietlica”), to improve and increase our vegetable gardens, etc, etc, etc…
Welcoming hens taking into account our direct environment : FOREST and WILDLIFE
And then, how can we not mention all those neighbors who dissuaded us for 3 years… “Oh dear friends, you won’t make it. In the forest ? With all the foxes around? With the martens and weasels roaming around here? It’s not a chicken coop you should build, it’s Alcatraz…”
In short, as little initiated as we were… we didn’t need much more to always move down the priority level of these dreamt friends friends…
Integrate the henhouse into a permaculture approach
And then, thanks to the precious help of Thibaut, our friend and co-manager of Bionest (to find out more about Bionest and their ecological products, click here), who himself owns several chickens,we took the plunge. We set about building the henhouse.
But which chicken coop? Not the basic one of course. We dreamed of a chicken coop / greenhouse, the one that would allow us to experience the co-benefit of a mini-greenhouse for early season sowing and the space for the chickens which would generate some heat for sowing to not freeze in the fresher spring nights.
From spring 2024, we will be able to experiment with the whole process. Chickens will be well established and our vegetable seedlings will be ready to start their new life.
So since mid-May 2023, we have welcomed 10 laying red hens who were subsequently joined by 1 purebred hen and 2 roosters that Thibaut kindly gave us.
Laying hens for the delight of young and old!
Today, their first summer is behind them. We really enjoy collecting eggs every day. Chickens that have their own wire enclosure are now more and more hanging around the entire property; our two dogs ultimately providing them with the best protection against the predators that hang out in the forest…
We prepared the chicken coop for winter. We are taking great care and hope that everything will go well for our two-legged friends.
Thanks chicks and thank you Cookie and Breaveheart !!
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