Bird flu is back

Thursday 18th January 2018
The Morning After
Last night was the wildest we have had since we moved here. The house was creaking under the strain and I feared for the outdoor structures, the trees, the fencing, the animal houses.
Over the years we have adapted the smallholding to cope with strong winds, but I was fairly sure there would be wreckage.

Everything was a bit rushed in the morning. It was hard getting out of bed after a restless night. I needed to check everything, let the poultry out and get to work. A quick survey of the house revealed no missing roof tiles (unlike at least a couple of the houses just down the road). The TV aerial was still up, the telephone wire was still hanging  (it came down once before, aided by a fallen tree), the solar panels were all still in place. A metal bin had disappeared and some of the netting in the garden had gone on a bit of an adventure. The fir tree at the back of the pond was leaning at an awkward angle.
But apart from that we had survived.
Down at the poultry pens, a few things had blown over but the main houses were fine. The recently constructed turkey pen was just about intact, though the heras fencing was leaning and the netting was all over the place. A few minor adjustments should secure it better for next time.

The weather was calm now, but the journey to work, just 10 minutes on rural roads and never any traffic, was not as usual. A few branches still laid at the road edges but the traffic was heavy. Our general area had been hit hard by this unnamed storm. Fallen trees had diverted the traffic off the main roads onto some of the most treacherous fenland roads.


On the way home from work I captured a pretty dramatic sky interrupting what for most of the day was most definitely the calm after the storm. It was straight back to the smallholding for a more thorough check, although by the time I'd taken the dogs along the river darkness was approaching.

Challenging News
It was on that journey home that I received a message informing me that a bird flu Prevention Zone has today been put in place across the whole of England for the second year in a row.
I have strong thoughts about this, but I'll save you them until the situation worsens. I get the feeling I'll be repeating them on a yearly basis.

For now my concern was to rearrange the order for 226 ducklings which I have coming in late March. They are all booked to go straight off the farm to other smallholders, but none of them will want to collect them if the restrictions are still in place.

My plan for a chicken polytunnel might have to come into place a bit sooner than expected too.