Six months ago the farm on the outskirts of North Tuddenham was a very different scene - swarming with poultry workers and vets in biohazard suits systematically gassing every last chicken. Yesterday with hens pecking at his boots Mr Dann reflected on the family's painful road to recovery from becoming the first casualty of Norfolk's H7N3 bird flu outbreak in March.

The family has clawed back their livelihood despite suffering £50,000-worth of losses and finding themselves shunned by former friends in the normally close-knit farming community. Both of their free-range farms are now fully restocked producing up to 15,000 eggs-a-day but Mr Dann said he came close to shutting them down at the height of the outbreak.

He said: "I clearly remember the day they culled both flocks, it was my wife's birthday. "I have never seen my staff in tears before, we just couldn't face being on the farm that day - I think I spent the day gardening. "Afterwards the grieving is probably akin to losing a relative but eventually you have to think this is here and deal with it."

Source: EDP24