Bruce wrote: If one is an egg eater and cannot do without for whatever reason and the supply is very low or none eggsistant lol, can one buy a few chickens? My neighbours over the road have chickens and have done for a while they just run around their back yard and have a cage wooden home thing they go in to when they feel like, No shortage of eggs for those folk,
They are quiet too I have never heard them, and the lady of the house said it is because they are all females, the male chickens are the noisy ones! I don't know if that is correct or not but I am not worried.
We are in the middle of an avian flu epidemic, so this is a challenging time to start keeping hens.
I know quite a few folk who have given up keeping hens because of avian flu regulations or had to have them culled because of an avian flu outbreak.
There is currently a nationwide compulsory “housing order” on all hens and poultry so your neighbours should not be allowing their hens to run around in the back yard at present.
They should keep their hens indoors but the problem with that is that most folk who keep just a few free range hens don’t have the space and facilities to house them safely and comfortably indoors - the small hen houses designed for overnight sleeping aren’t usually suitable to keep hens cooped up 24/7.
The Government rules say that “If it is impossible for you to house your birds you must keep them separate from wild birds in a totally netted enclosure.”
This will prevent wild birds from getting in. However, wild birds could still contaminate the feed – so feeders and any other sources of food and water must be kept under cover, to ensure that wild bird faeces cannot contaminate the hens’ food and water.