For those of you reading this outside the UK (and many people who are not poultry keepers in the UK) you may not know that it isn’t just us humans in lockdown. There is a highly pathogenic version of Avian flu in the wild migratory birds. While this is (currently) no danger to humans, it is highly infectious and deadly to the birds that we keep. Because of this on the 14th December it became a legal requirement for all of our poultry to be housed in a way which means they have no contact with the wild bird populations.
My poor chickens, ducks and bantams who are so used to a carefree free range lifestyle are locked up tight and we are still waiting to hear when they will get parole. Working on the theory that it will be about the same time as it was when this happened a few years back, I am hoping for an Easter ish release date. Being this far north we are still seeing wild geese flying over while they decide if it is time to head up to their nesting grounds.
That being said, we decided to make a start on preparing a new secure area for my bantams. The ducks and chickens will be allowed back out into the paddocks but I worry my poor little bantams will go broody (which they do all of the time) and fail to come home for curfew. Thus resulting in a tasty tea for Mr Fox.
After finishing the work on re-covering the poly tunnel. I was considering the big area of waste ground behind it. It has massive conifer trees which we had already decided we needed to top. This was mainly due to much swearing last year as we tried to retrieve bee swarms from 30ft up in a dense canopy. I can laugh now at my attempts to climb a tree in my bee suit, but not so much at the time.
So, giving my back a rest from moving barrow loads of compost into the new raised beds, with axe in hand we went to explore. It was too windy to dig out the chainsaw and top the conifers but we could clear the under brush and lower branches. Having done this we discovered the piles of oddments of timber and steel sheeting that seem to appear by magic on any Croft where some kind of building work has taken place. The steel sheeting was somewhat rusted but will make a lovely wind break for my little bantams. As for the wood, we rescued what could be of future use and the rest… I feel another bonfire coming on.
At the end of the day the new area has great promise. All it requires is a small amount of additional fencing, top the conifers and carry a coop round. I will then have some very happy bantams when they are finally let out of lockdown.
Achies Farm 