[HesterF]

Vets report said Avian Leukosis rather than Mareks. Not good news but I think better than Mareks. Plus the PM samples showed all sorts of other things - worms, coccidiosis, other parasites. Apparently they are more susceptible when they have Leukosis but nevertheless we obviously have all those things present which is scary given that we've only had the chickens there since September (with no poultry kept on the land for 70 years before that!), it's a big run and they were (before the winter) free ranging quite a bit.

I have to have a closed flock for 6 months and no hatching (chicks more susceptible) and if the rest are still all OK after that, I can think about getting a replacement cockerel. But at least no culling. Keep your fingers crossed for the rest of them .

Good news is that the ducks and geese will be unaffected so I can still use the hens as broodies for them...

H

[in the hills]

Do you have lots of pheasants on your land? I have been told that they can bring a lot of parasites with them.

[HesterF]

We do have some pheasants, not sure about lots. Certainly one resident at the moment. Also got lots of foxes so I guess that keeps them down. The cats always seem to be full of worms so maybe there is just lots of everything wormy and parasity around in the wildlife.

[Victorian Farmer]

The damp wether to blame by naw we would have had  very hard frosts to kill most of these beasts .

[HesterF]

Do you know how long it has to be frozen to kill them off? I imagine it has to affect the whole life cycle doesn't it? We did have about a week of it being frozen solid, just when I was trying to plant fruit trees (and even the compost heap had frozen) but that's probably not long enough? Just a pity there's not some product I could spray over the run to kill them off, like you can inside with fleas....

H

[Marches Farmer]

You could lime the ground then reseed.  If you've got enough space to have two runs and leave them empty for six months at a time it can be a big help.  If you know you have a high worm burden it may be necessary to worm every 3 months or less.