The poultry are coping with their lockdown, just about. It is difficult to judge what effect being inside is having: no bird is ill; they are all eating and drinking, perching, poo-ing, scratching in the straw… some are continuing to lay eggs!!! BUT they are not as active as they would be if they were outside all day, they are eating more of the poultry pellets (due to not being able to supplement their diet with food they find outside) and there are more squabbles – we have even found blood on the straw some mornings, no doubt the result of some ‘comb’ pecking, combs bleed A LOT!!
It is also much harder work for us as the cleaning out takes longer and having to clean 'around' the birds does, rather inevitably, lead to some areas not being quite so pristine as they should be. We are also using more straw as straw is a fabulous boredom buster and fresh straw each morning definitely keeps the birds entertained for an hour or two. It must be said though that getting in and out to top up waters and rinse things, ‘without’ letting any of the birds out, is a serious challenge.
So far, there has been one confirmed case of Avian Flu H5N8 at a turkey farm in Lincolnshire. Over 5000 birds died/ had to be culled: a devastating loss for the farmer concerned and a massive worry for other farmers/ smallholders/ poultry keepers in the area. A 3km Protection Zone and a 10km Surveillance Zone have been set up by DEFRA and of course there is now mass speculation as to what effect this will have, if any, on the 6th January end to the current Prevention Zone.
We are still following the advice of our vets as explained on the 15th which we believe to be in the best interests of our birds’ welfare!