[chrismahon]

Pure bred Black Large Fowl TNN wanted. Will travel to collect as necessary, but must be to breed standards.

[cuckoo]

I do believe Temple Newsam Farm - owned and run by Leeds City Council have these - may be woth a contact - just google it for their contact details and phone the farm manager

[chrismahon]

Thanks  very much Cuckoo. I'm already in touch with them for 3 hens. But they have no cockerels yet and I want one from a different line for breeding anyway.

[MAK]

We have a couple of TNN hens ( laying like mad) and despite others ( on a different thread) knocking the French saying that they do not maintain chicken breeds we have seen TNN coqs several times on a market near us. Infact they have a massive range of breeds.
Sorry to say that the market is held in the Haute Vienne and only on the 29th of each month.
 

[chrismahon]

Hi Mak, when I said I would travel..........

As we will be living in the Dordogne by the end of the year it might not be so far to go. Problem is you can't tell if they have been crossed, as the naked neck is dominant. Next generation you get lower neck feathers. Fine for Utility though.

I will continue my search here, but I have to declare a closed flock around June for the export paperwork. I was aware that TNN 's are common in France for meat production, so that was our fallback position. Problem here is the breed weight is low and if I can't get a decent size English cockerel he will have to be French.

[MAK]

Hi Chris - I am sure you will be able to buy what you are after here. Several poultry sellers drive up from the Dordogne to Les Heroilles on the 29th of each month. They sell lorry loads of regular chickens but there are also many individuals selling every bird you can imagine. I am not a chicken nut but the variety of different chickens sold as eiher fertilised eggs, young birds, at point of lay or great cockerels it quite something. There are many "fancy" or unusual types. Breeding pairs seem expensive but I guess one pays for the pure breed. As well as ducks and geese there are pigeons, fowl,peacocks,ostrich,quail etc.
The market goes on all day but the poultry section closes at 12:00 ( just like everything else in France) and does not open after lunch. I think the market at Les Heroilles can be found on the www  and is a left turn at La Souterraine up the A20 from you.
Trust me you will love it and the local lunch and wine sold from rustic cafes is great. Oh - take cash as the village has no banks. You can buy anything for the smallholding or kitchen ( clothes etc too). Take a trailer if you are after pigs,sheep,goats,donkeys,Shetlands or horses.
good luck with the move.

 

[chrismahon]

Thanks MAK.

The Naked Neck in France is a larger crossed Utility bird and not the version from Romania we have over here. Whilst it looks similar it has only size going for it, the shape is completely wrong. The English breeders have lost the size required by their own breed standard amazingly. Our intention is to take a breeding quartet of the proper variety and gently cross the French version (25%) in an attempt to get size of the Romanian standard back.

So we still need an English black cockerel to maintain the basic standards whilst introducing the cross. Take about 5 years to achieve I think. In the meantime we will need a French cockerel or hens and will have loads of chicks to sell off so will definitely go to the market and have a look. We have some cracking Leghorn bantams as well that should do extremely well over there in terms of  egg production on minimum feed -the optimim egg producer by miles in my opinion if you have space.

Yes it is a complex move. Defra have sent the export paperwork and we will have to declare a closed flock in June latest, so we haven't got much time to get a cockerel. The logistics of moving the coops is a real headache!!!

[MAK]

hi - Chris - yes we were told by someone who knows his chickens that these are big birds - I think they were sold to us under the general Le Grand Chair heading scribbled on a bit of card. They are aimed at the table rather than eggs and as you say may not be the pure breed.However one of ours is tiny compared to the others and it may be that she is the best layer.

Good luck with the move - I guess that you know that all decorating stuff paint etc is very expensive here so stack the removal van with as much DIY stuff as you can. Chicken wire and all other wire fencing is very expensive too.
I think one of our other members moved to northern France with her chickens from the UK. See posts by Petite Gallette ( I think).
Martin

[chrismahon]

Thanks Martin. Had lots of communication with 'little flat cake' with plenty of advice. Have a rental now for September near Sarlat. Chikens and my wife going over first and I follow when our house here is sold and loose ends sorted, but certainly by Christmas. Three pure bred hens are arriving Monday. But WE STILL NEED A COCKEREL !! Perhaps we can arrange to meet at the market next year?

[MAK]

Hi - so it nearly all systems go. I hope that your house sells. We had the same problem having put a deposit down on our house here but no buyers for our 2 homes in the UK. Even when we had buyers it took an age to complete on UK houses so I just moved here - tricky times but all done now.
I luv Sarlat on warm summers nights - music & other acts everywhere. I think you have sod of big vultures down there that nest on the cliffs on the rivers (true) - they have bare necks and are black. So I hope the TNNs don't mate with them by mistake.
Don't forget to ship wire fencing as it is expensive here.

Chris (OH) has not been to that area and if we get someone to look after animals we will tour the Sarlat area for 3-4 days in May. 
I will let you know if we see a cocq next month when we go to the market but yes a meet there would be great.
Cheers Martin

[chrismahon]

AT LAST we have located a cockerel; well more than one actually. So by Friday night Claude will be tucked up in bed in the Orchard. On his own for the time being until we feel his hens are settled properly.