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The 5 shifts that will shake the global electricity system Why solar is now as cheap as coal www.bloomberg.com/company/newenergy-outlook/ www.bloomberg.com/company/new-energyoutlook/ MURRAY GRIMWOOD lives with partner Jennie Upton and Zeb the dog on a

1Solar, solar everywhere

The further decline in the cost of photovoltaic technology will drive a US$3.7 trillion surge in investment in solar, both large-scale and small-scale.

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Summer is the peak season for parasites, the most common pests you’ll find irritating your poultry. There are the internal parasites including roundworm, gape worm and tapeworm, the protozoa invaders like coccidiosis and blackhead, and the external creepy crawlies like red mite, scaly leg mite, northern fowl mite, lice and possibly fleas as well.

All are most commonly found in or on birds with free range access, whether it’s an enclosed run or in a garden, orchard or pasture. Commercial farmers whose birds are kept indoors either in cages or barns rarely have problems with parasites as their birds are kept secure from the influence of wild birds and other risks, so if you take on birds from these farms, they can be more at risk (see box above) than a bird raised in a free-range environment.

Don’t forget about rodents either, one of the biggest carriers of diseases and parasites into your coop.

Spring and summer are warm, and often wet too, the ideal conditions to encourage disease. It’s also the time when you have lots of young birds around. Their juvenile immune systems are only just developing, and if they then meet a massive population boom of mites or coccidiosis, it can often be too much for them to cope with. If they are debilitated through anaemia caused by blood-thirsty parasites they will be unable to grow properly or to resist more serious viral or bacterial infections which may also be in their environment.