hi there just writing to get something off my chest really. there's juts been an outbreak of avian flu close to where I live - I'm in the dreaded zone as it were. ive had notices from the local council and have been in touch with defra and duty vets. the thing is I am doing everything to abide by their instructions. I have 7 chickens at the moment and they have a large house and big run that is roofed and sheltered as the authorities warned about wild birds defacating maybe being a problem. the problem is my neighbour (not for the first time) - I have written before about him - he keeps chickens too but doesn't really seem to care about them. we are neighbours - living in cottages on a working farm (arable farm) and he has been told to keep his chickens fenced in and housed like mine due to biosecurity measures. the problem is he is not adhering to this. I arrived home the other to find them wandering around the farmland coming into contact with many wild birds (which is obviously a big no no around here at the mo). the farmer is angry about it but never acts upon anything. I contacted defra about this and they put me through to my local areas office and then to duty vets but they all seem pretty hopeless and are not acting on this. I try to tell my neighbour but he's just laissez faire about it all - he thinks its all just a load of scare-mongering. I am really at my wits end what to do about this! he could be responsible for causing the spread of this terrible disease and no-one seems to care. am I over-reacting? I really don't know what to do next!
