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Cozy with chickens in the barn. There is so much space that you can lie across the floor and just listen to the giggles. “It’s not clean enough for that,” says Rocchina Luongo (39). Then the gardener sits on the tire he has set up as a manger.
Birds immediately surrounded him, he knew each one by name. There’s the confident Lotti and also the shy Bommel, who flies away at their owner. He hides first when I arrive. Each has their own personality and story – I love them all the same.”
This applies to proud purebred hens as well as discarded laying hens, from black Ayam Cemani, Araucanas to Marans. Currently, 26 chickens live with him. “They lay eggs in all colors, from white to cream, green to gray to dark brown. Every day is Easter for me.”
Luongo has recently started his own business with the Forte nursery in Rickenbach ZH. He spends his free time taking care of his animals. In fact, chickens would now exercise 100 square feet, they must remain indoors to avoid contact with wild birds due to the highly contagious H5N1 avian flu that is prevalent worldwide. The preventive measures have been in effect since November 2022, and the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Administration (FSVO) has extended the requirements until at least April 30!
stress for chickens
Restrictions are necessary, but no more fun for chickens than for their keepers. A muttering wail can be heard beneath the chicken’s claws and giggles against the plastic wall. “They want to go out,” says Luongo. He feels with his animals: “They grow up in you, I have a connection with every chicken.”
It is not possible to place a grid on the meadow due to the fruit trees. That’s why Luongo turned to alternatives to make it more bearable indoors for its chickens. He also set up a tent and aviaries. In addition, it provides efficiency and variety in the enclosure, for example, with PET bottles from which chickens can collect their food through the holes. “It’s important that the barn and indoor run are structured so I put in additional perches for them to climb on.”
There are an estimated 70,000 private poultry farms in Switzerland, and this number is growing every day. “However, it’s not all so exemplary,” says Lucia Oeschger of the Swiss Animal Welfare STS. Their research shows that private housing often does not adequately meet the needs of chickens. “Stables that are bought off-the-shelf are usually very small,” says Oeschger. A problem exacerbated by bird flu. “You should expect preventive measures to be implemented more frequently and for longer periods of time in the future.” Therefore, it is worth building a closed open space for chickens from the very beginning, namely an aviary. Due to animal welfare as well as veterinary diseases, Swiss Animal Welfare, together with the BLV, launched an information campaign for breed-appropriate chicken breeding at the end of March.
Luongo believes the restrictions are stressful for the hens: “If they don’t hatch, they lay fewer eggs.” The buds of the fruit trees in the meadow will soon sprout, and Luongo hopes the chickens will be allowed out again, at least in May.
Source : Blick
I am Dawid Malan, a news reporter for 24 Instant News. I specialize in celebrity and entertainment news, writing stories that capture the attention of readers from all walks of life. My work has been featured in some of the world’s leading publications and I am passionate about delivering quality content to my readers.
