H5N8(again)

 There has been an outbreak of Avian Flu on the Island of Sanday, one of the Orkney Outer Islands. So Avian flu is a bit closer.  We remain outside the exclusion zone - heres the map  .And the guidance is that  all poultry should be kept indoors, away from wild birds which might spread it around. And there are particualr problems with turkeys  and  ducks  because they can be carriers and show little in the way of symptoms. 

So its 'bring your hens inside ' time. 

We've had a bit of a move around.  Some surprise chicks were hatched in November  and as we had no other use for it , they had been growing on in one of the bigger runs . So they have had to be moved from their big run to something a bit more cosy

 And the chicks are growing -and all appear healthy. But the black one is about half the size of the others. We've no idea why .

So having freed up the 2 large hen runs, they have gone inside .

The advantage of getting them inside is that we can try adding some light to encourage them to lay. They should have started laying at the end of the  summer but for some reason they haven't.

 

 

We've got the turkey poults under cover as well. 

 We still have an excess of cockerels . So they are being managed as well. Its getting cold, so they will be hung for a few days before being gutted and  then either roasted or jointed and into the freezer.

 

And there are another 9 out in the field