Initially, like many a backyard chicken keeper I imagine, I was fairly sceptical and thought only large institutions where poultry was kept in the thousands had cause for any concern. However, it soon became clear that even the odd bantam poking around someone's veggie patch seemed to be at risk and we went into full ' oh crap this is really happening!!' mode. Netting, tarpaulin and poultry shield in hand we went about securing our coop as best we could and have kept everything crossed regards the whole horrible matter ever since. My only hope is that being somewhere near the middle of the country, as opposed to being near a coastline, offers us some tiny shred of protection. I wear a single pair of cheapo croc -type shoes to go in and out of the coop - never anywhere else - and our nearest chicken neighbours (again a small flock in a ladies back garden) are about a mile or so away.
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| Anti-viral bedding should hopefully help. |
Am I clutching to every shred of hope out there? Yes, I guess so, but then I do have an ever-present and wholly thriving reason to be. That lovely canal at the end of the garden - remember the one I gushed about all those months ago when we first moved in, the one that I thought would be amazing to sit by in the dusty summer evenings and that had us rubbing our hands together as we signed for our new home? Yeah, that canal - home to tens if not hundreds of wild birds and supporting hundreds more just within the half mile stretch of our street and the dog park. Every single one with the capacity to carry AI and introduce it to my lovely girls...
Frankly, it's terrifying...
Every scratch of the ear or shake of the head is now inspected and worried over like it could be the beginning of a zombie apocalypse. Imagining Defra swooping in and then being the 'bad owners' of the flock that bought AI to the midlands, to potentially ruin the lives of the farmers in the area through some small carelessness... Horrible just isn't even close to describing the very idea of it.
Above all though, I watch my beautiful girls, each one of them, and simply cannot stomach the thought of having no choice but to have them destroyed because of this devastating disease.
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| Having lots of treats during lock down. |
They are not my livelihood, it's not the loss of income or any kind of reputation that has got me chewing my fingernails down. It's the thought of losing a single one of them - their personalties, their companionship, their voices on a freezing cold morning, their funny arguments over a shred of cabbage, the constant and comforting responsibility of being their care-giver... I'm scared to lose my friends.
My chickens have long been an unconditional part of my happiness. What ever I spend on them, however wet and cold I get taking care of them, how ever many 'crazy chicken lady' comments or ridicule I get from people who just plain don't get it, it is nothing compared to what I get from simply having them in my life. For an animal that many people see only as food, they have been capable of more than many people I have known - that is to keep me going when everything else has failed.
So, when is a chicken not just a chicken? The answer is simple and the same for any animal. They are equal to, if not more important than, any one of us if only we recognise it. When we open our hearts and lives to any living creature they become a part of us and that makes them incredibly precious.
Maybe, in fact I hope against all hope, we are over the worst of this current epidemic and that the already devastating loss of animal life is coming to an all too slow end. It's not the best start to what I hope is a really promising first full year here at The Keep and my heart genuinely goes out to anybody personally effected by this awful blight on our feathered friends.
Lets have many more days shared with those that keep us smiling - human and animal alike.
Come rain or shine it'll still be mine.
G
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