[MidlandBrewer]

Time is short and lives are on the line!

My sister rang me yesterday to say a battery farm near Leicester was selling 3000 of their caged birds to Pukka Pies in 2 weeks, this Saturday though its free game (ish) and you can go along and save a bird for £2.50.

I don’t have much money for building materials and my current runs too small to accommodate more birds so ive come up with the below plan to save a dozen birds:

I have 15 lengths of 38mmx63mmx2400mm timber and 45 meters of chicken wire (all left over from previous projects) and lots of tarp (so we keep within Avian Flu regs).

I’m going to make 2 tent type structures covered in chicken wire with tarp over the top, if my maths is correct that should give me 171 square feet of run space.

( 11 * 7.8 ) * 2

My wife is currently on pallet scavenging duty so I can make a temporary coop.

With any luck this will give me enough space to rehome 12 chickens that have never felt grass under their feet!

I need to finish work early every day this week to guarantee this is ready by Saturday, wish me luck!


NB:

Sorry for the rubbish plan image, I dont exactly do CAD!

[mumofstig]

I thought any movement of poultry is banned right now because of the Avian Flu outbreak - so I'd definitely check what's going on with the situation first.

[snowdrops]

Chicken netting is not fox proof unfortunately, weld mesh is recommended 😔. But good luck.

[MidlandBrewer]

I thought any movement of poultry is banned right now because of the Avian Flu outbreak - so I'd definitely check what's going on with the situation first.

I will 100% check this before I go ( and obviously inform the Battery Farm if they are breaching regs ).

[MidlandBrewer]

This is what DEFRA says:

"The movement of poultry should be minimized, and clothing and equipment should always be disinfected."

It's still very 'grey' for me so I'm going to email them.

[New shoot]

If the hens are ex-battery, they will have been inside so the risk will be low, but everyone arriving there to collect birds has the potential to be bringing bird flu to the party, either on their car tyres, their footwear or their clothing. 

This isn't just if they are flouting the restrictions and have birds still running outside, the risk is there from anyone innocently stepping in an infected dropping or driving through an area where infected birds are around.

I'm not saying don't go ahead and rescue some birds.  Personally I wouldn't chance it, but that's a choice for you to make. 

If you do go ahead, just to be aware of the risk and make sure your bio-security once you get home is as good as you can make it.  I would also keep the new hens well away from the old ones until you are sure they are well.  This is ideally the case for all introductions, but especially so at the moment 

[Paul Plots]

Best of luck Midlandbrewer... you have a tight schedule.

It's a pity you haven't an empty garage. If it were me I would want to give myself more time by housing the 12 birds somewhere secure, away from my own stock and somewhere sheltered for a while. Boy is it cold out where I am but I think they can gradually become accustomed to cooler cold conditions. Hopefully they will be fully feathered.