Monsieur Claude - the poster boy of cockerels

Claude is a very beautiful, Gallic-looking cockerel - hence the name. I'm not sure what kind of chicken he is – chicken sounds so bourgeois for someone as classy as Claude I feel, mais who am I to dispute his classification? 

He was the first of the animals I met when he decided to walk in through the front door, and it wasn't long afterwards that I met Madame Claude, or Eugenie, and their four children. However, before I was able to name them, two were taken by a some murderous creature in the night, and now only Jacques and Jacqueline remain.

In true French style, it wasn’t long before I was introduced to 'the other hen', Blanche who had obviously been hiding in her apartement in Saint Poulet with a couple of bad eggs. Eugenie appears to tolerate Blanche – although I have noticed she does sharpen her beak in a threatening way on the concrete. I suspect it may be her way of reminding Blanche about the pecking order.

Ten things I have learned about chickens: 

1. They spend all day scritching and scratching around the garden – I should think more farmers should use them as pest control agents. You know… "Poulet, Claude Poulet, leasance to eat."
2. They do come home to roost.
3. They can climb trees. Who knew? At night, Claude leads his family up the tree outside my house - the two little ones either climbing or flutter-flying up the branches till they’re safe under mum’s wings. 
4. They eat popcorn – but only if I have chopped it up.
5. They keep snakes away, which puts them firmly in my Top 10 list of animals. 
6. Their mating style is more of the ‘wham when, thank you hen’ than the “Ah mademoiselle, ah fahnd yere tail fezzurs very alluringge” variety.
7. They have a “Ah. Bien. Ze human ave poot out ze fuud, come and eet ma famille” cackle, which brings the wives and kids running.
8. They take sand baths. The other day I came across Claude lying on the lawn and thought a patrolling eagle had got him. Mais non, he was merely taking a break from rolling around in the sand patch as part of his weekly toilette. 
9. They are bossy AF.
10. They wake up early. Very early.

First meeting

 The whole family

Claude and Eugenie