Reading reports of escalating cases of bird flu again. France has new controls in place for commercial flocks, but also asking all to net their hens.
And interestingly trying to stop decoy birds being released in to the wild by hunters……Certainty our hunters don’t seem to have got that message as the usual sudden presence of reared pheasants sitting in the road waiting for someone to come and feed them….and getting shot.
Pigeon racing is off the cards, as well …
My chooks are crazy, half wild part Arucana’s that refuse anything to do with the coop and sleep in the top of the hazelnut trees! Interestingly thye are the only ones that survive after a couple of dog incidents and the coop being accidently left open one night and broken into another night! I have no hope of ‘netting’ or covering them so just hope I don’t get in trouble!
keep an eye on the local regulations… and do whatever they tell you to do…
Let’s face it, no-one wants their birds culled … I’ve seen the shock and devastation of owners who’ve been through that.
Until these 4 I would have said the same! They are impossible, I can’t catch them, I need to treat them for scaly leg mites but can’t get up the hazel trees to them. On top of that there are 2 roos and 2 hens which is totally not cool for the hens (actually it was only a problem for a month or 2 over summer). AND they hardly lay any eggs which I knew for arucanas but they were a small part of my breeding programe which was destroyed in the space of 2 weeks between a fox and a dog just as I ended up with the most incredible coloured egg basket! I would like to start again with 6 hens, no roosters, nice docile breeds and I won’t let them free range this time!!! A lot of lessons learnt over the last few years.
better start checking on those special chicken casserole recipes… 
I still have one of my roosters, King Willam, in the freezer. He was one of my faves and I can’t bear to eat him!
I have British friends, where they cry every time one of their chickens is for the chop.
On the other hand… a French friend names all her birds (chickens, ducks and geese) and tends them lovingly, like her children, until it’s time for them to be “transformed” as she likes to say… sounds better than “killed”.
I must say, her food is delicious. We love eating there and try not to get to thinking about which “child” we might be devouring.