We love having a flock of chickens. They were the first to call the farm home, and if I have my way will always be a part of our farm life.
These days, however, we look at our chickens a little differently. Each day, as we open the door to their coops, we do a quick assessment to make sure everyone is alive and healthy. It's a little like walking on eggshells these days. (And if you have been to a grocery store lately, you realize what a commodity those eggshells can be!)
Avian flu has decimated over 58 million chickens nationally during 2022 -2023 and driven the price of eggs skyward.
One thing that our chickens have going for them is the amount of time that they spend out on pasture. Backyard chickens are typically much healthier than chickens raised in industrial farming conditions. One thing that we have been doing is giving the chickens their snacks and scraps in large feed bowls rather than on the ground to reduce contamination with feces.
We've also been cleaning our chicken houses a little more often... on top of trying to remove the night's manure droppings each morning.
I pray that we make it through this bird flu without our chickens being infected. Time will tell.
We had a beautiful sunny day yesterday.I opened up the she-shed early in the morning and lit the fire... planning to spend a few hours in the warm cozy sitting area. And then I got involved in cleaning and organizing another corner of the house, and before you know it, time got away from me and my fire died. Ahhh well.... another day
Comments
Couldn't they come up with a vaccine for the birdflue?