Chicken bald back

[Luvachicken]

My kind friend has just given me 4 "Your chickens" magazines and in one issue it says "If a pet hen passes away the owner has to take it to a registered premises, such as a vets or pet crematorium. They cannot bury it in the garden or dispose of it in general waste due to the risk of spreading disease."

 

I have only taken my chickens to be disposed at the vets and then given to the crematorium anyway, but this has got quite expensive.

 

Have the rules changed ?

How would anyone know whether you buried one or popped it in the bin anyway ?

And what diseases are they talking about ?

[Lewis]

DEFRA guidelines can be found here.

 

Pet animals ("any animal belonging to a species normally nourished and kept, but not consumed, by humans for purposes other than farming") can be buried but it states this does not apply to poultry.

 

I would give them a call about backgarden poultry as the vets I have spoken to in the past have recommended pet chickens are double bagged and disposed in household waste; this isn't official advice though.

[Luvachicken]

pet chickens are double bagged and disposed in household waste; this isn't official advice though.

 

Yes, I thought this is how most people disposed of their chickens.

I've just never liked the thought of my pet going in the bin so that's why I take them to the vets.

[Mars]

Then that should be applied to rats as well. rats carry more diseases than chickens

[chickencam]

I have to admit that since the introduction of food waste, I have used this method to dispose of mine. I have only done this about three times. Apart from the insides and feathers I see no difference with an out of date chicken being put in there. Presumably most food waste goes into some kind of fast digester involving heat or microbes that would kill any disease anyway. I have only used this method for my ladies who have passed on through old age. If I felt that they had something nasty I would take them to the vet, I did this with the first two, but like you say it is expensive. I just wrap in newspaper and a food waste bag. It seems a bit callous but I can't really think of another way than normal bin which seems worse to me because then they would be decomposing in landfill which feels so much worse both emotionally and disease wise.

[Olly]

I completely agree re the food waste bins, but I'm scared to put my hens in there in case the bin fell over or when they tipped it up someone saw it - I double-bag mine and put them in the general waste bin so they're not identifiable.

[chickencam]

That's why I wrap them in newspaper and then a food waste bag, I still wait for the scream from the collection team though.

[Luvachicken]

We don't have food waste bins - just normal rubbish, recycling and glass but I would still take them to the vets for them to dispose of my chickens.

[The Dogmother]

Last time I bothered to check the DEFRA guidelines were that you had to double bag them and put them in the general waste bin.

[JellyBean2605]

We buried ours! There's no way my husband would have allowed me to just put her in the bin. I can't see how it could spread disease though unless she got dug up.

[The Dogmother]

DEFRA's concern (after the foot and mouth crisis, is the possible spread disease through the soil.

[Sil-El]

We buried ours! There's no way my husband would have allowed me to just put her in the bin. I can't see how it could spread disease though unless she got dug up.

 

We've buried ours too. Neither of us could bear just putting them in the bin. Call me sentimental but our girls are pets and like all our other pets, when the time comes, they get a burial in the back garden.

[chickencam]

Another concern with garden burial would be if a fox came into the garden and dug them up again this would be distressing especially if you have children.

[Stagsbrae]

My only chicken lost so far was PTS at vet so out of my hands. Not something I like to think about, but our food waste in Fife is composted with garden waste so either double-bag in normal waste or bury, but unsure. Goldfish and Guinea are both buried in back garden but never seen any foxes round our way so hard to say.

[merlina]

No idea if this is permitted or not but....

I always have a brazier full of stuff (garden prunings etc) for burning.

If one of my girls dies I have a 'funeral pyre' for her and scatter the ashes.

I reckon that's hot enough to kill any disease. And I scatter the ashes in their garden - which seems like a happy end to me

[The Dogmother]

No idea if this is permitted or not but....

I always have a brazier full of stuff (garden prunings etc) for burning.

If one of my girls dies I have a 'funeral pyre' for her and scatter the ashes.

I reckon that's hot enough to kill any disease. And I scatter the ashes in their garden - which seems like a happy end to me

 

That's ideal.

[Charlottechicken]

A funeral pyre sounds lovely, actually

 

All household waste in Brum is incinerated, so mine have always been wrapped well in newspaper and sent off for their council cremation. I don't believe in burying anything (human, animal or household waste) so this works fine for me.

[Princess Leia]

We buried ours! There's no way my husband would have allowed me to just put her in the bin. I can't see how it could spread disease though unless she got dug up.

 

We buried one of ours. Our pet rabbit dug her up again after a few months...

[chickencam]

When I was growing up our family kept hens and any that passed on had their funeral pyre in our large wood burner, very practical and clean way to go. My wood burner is too small otherwise I would do the same. I have looked into it in our area and all of our food waste goes into anaerobic digesters so that seems ok to me.