Bird flu, life goes on

Although this is an entry of our life during March I guess I should start by mentioning that bird flu has eventually reared its head in the UK or more to the point in Scotland. I had imagined over the last few months that I would feel extremely scared and feared of what measures would be put in place but at the moment I feel no different. True the measures don't affect me but looking at the picture as a whole nothing has changed for us that I know of at this time. Life goes on very much the same, much as it always has and will continue to do until someone say's differently. I guess I should also say that any of these bring your birds inside rules would ultimately mean the death of all our poultry as I have no intention of keeping our birds in the manner beloved of the battery farms. To watch them rip themselves apart from boredom stuck in a confined area or suffer illnesses they have never had being free range and generally live a confined existence is something I refuse to do. This may seem like an extreme measure but everyone must make their own decision based on their own situation.
With regard my new career I have no idea what will happen maybe that is it finished before it actually starts or maybe after a few 'clear' weeks the restrictions will be lifted who knows what the future holds? What is clear is that once again Mother Nature has proved that it is she who is in control, not the human race. It often amazes me how as a race we like to appear so clever and yet it is the smallest of things which have us on our knees. I wonder if as a race we actually realise at some point in the future that we are not so superior after all and finally start to live alongside nature instead of £$%^&* about with her?
Ok rant over now, it's here so let's get on with living. March has proven to be one of the hardest so far for a long time. The beginning of the month heralded the white stuff and boy did it come down. We know each year it will come but the severity is something we can only guess at and prepare for the worse case scenario, which this year proved to be pretty severe for the first 2 weeks. Rather than recount the experience now you can read about it here.
The last 3 ram lambs are now processed and in the freezer and the skins of 2 have been successfully tanned. One failed to cure properly and criminally I just didn't have the time to sort the other. Honestly speaking the actual joints have tasted fantastic but for some reason the lamb chops failed to impress. It may sound stupid that they tasted of lamb but we have come to expect high quality tasting meat and this is the first time of any of our meat produce that we have said 'not as good as expected'. Strange being from the same animal perhaps it was my cooking!
Malcolm and Lady our pedigree Large Black pigs have now been moved into their own little paddock in readiness for the arrival of Bonnie to make our breeding trio complete. Once accustomed to each other we plan to let them have free range of an acre field next to their paddock. Bonnie should be ready to move in early April as the weaners are now eating and drinking independently. Thankfully Bonnie's physical condition remains good so all systems should be go soon. We have also decided against selling the weaners, as they are 'fat as butter' and should grow very quickly over the coming summer months, being ready for the freezer around August time.
The geese are finally free ranging around the smallholding now as I had kept them in an acre field more because of my inexperience in that I worried about them attacking myself, Debbie or the kids. Yes I know I am a softy but I am man enough to admit it! To be honest I need not have worried, as the geese are little gems really. They go about their daily business and seem fine with all the other animals and their eggs are delicious. Of course I have to have a full one to myself and they are probably the best eggs I have tasted, not having tasted goose eggs before now. One slight problem is that instead of a breeding trio we may actually have 3 geese. The egg count just seems to high, often 3 per day which to me says 3 girls but I guess we will have to wait and see for now I am just grateful for the addition of goose eggs to the menu.
And so we come to the only real down side of March. Trying to keep animals as free range as possible has meant that our poultry are totally free range and that means that the door to the hen houses are left open at night so that they can come and go as they please. It seems that a fox took advantage of the open door to our main hen house and killed 7 of our hens. Unfortunately on that night was a bad one for howling winds and rain, which meant we heard nothing. Even having been woken at 5am by the police looking for someone at a different address we never knew anything had happened.
I knew when feeding that not the usual procession of would be velocoraptors had made their way to the scattered corn but thought the wind had disguised my feeding round and being free range it wasn't totally unusual for some of them to be on egg laying missions in the barn. It wasn't until I left for work and drove up the track that I caught sight of one of the hens half way up a neighbours field and looking further up I could see there were more. On closer inspection heads were missing or throats were ripped open. A total waste. I can only imagine that the police coming down the track at 5am had put a stop to the carnage, as there were plenty of other hens to take from the roosting perches. Needless to say they are all locked up at night now except for the ducks who refuse to co-operate in any way.
Well that's it for March action packed again never a dull moment. I just hope that April doesn't turn into a nightmare but I guess that is just life good times and bad. One thing is for sure we will remain positive and meet the challenges head on. Best wishes poultry keepers!