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Egluntyne

Confirmed Bird Flu - Lincs, Wales now Leicestershire & Yorks

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Ok, well my 12 chickens who are on the bare minimum of space per bird are fine, On day 2 of intros defra announced their keep chickens in policy. Not ideal for my girls,they are used to fr , I debated about putting the newbies back into separate accommodation but after a week of 24/7 lock in they were all fine. Luckily there was minimal fighting. Now, there is little segregation in the flock. I think it's easy to humanise birds and animals but at the end of the day, they get on with it as we do given a situation. I'm very lucky with my intros as they are 3 rufty tufty ISAs :)

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Hmmmm, another mixed flock.

it's getting worrying! I think the regs for back yard keepers will be tightened up after this current situation is over

the commercial boys are going to be looking at this and argue that their livelihood is been put at risk from the unregulated back yard flocks and at the moment if things stay as is it'll be hard to argue against it

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I agree sjp; but DEFRA can hardly keep up with enforcing the current regs; they will need more power and staff.

 

I'm more than happy to comply.

 

Just driven back form Stratford to collect feed and grab some extra eggs - all their birds are under cover and they have the strictest biosecurity in place... YET, just down the road, a smallholding has free ranging chooks in a field, no runs for them AND they are mixed with ducks and geese. :roll::evil: are they unaware, or just applying the ostrich approach (if I pretend it's not there then it doesn't apply to me)? If these free ranging birds end up with AI, then not only will they be culled, also the flocks at 2 barn bird farms nearby. All because of one location where they aren't complying!!!

 

Sorry, rant over. It does make me angry!!!

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I agree sjp; but DEFRA can hardly keep up with enforcing the current regs; they will need more power and staff.

 

I'm more than happy to comply.

 

Just driven back form Stratford via the yard to collect feed and grab some extra eggs - all their birds are under cover and they have the strictest biosecurity in place... YET, just down the road, a smallholding has free ranging chooks in a field, no runs for them AND they are mixed with ducks and geese. :roll::evil: are they unaware, or just applying the ostrich approach (if I pretend it's not there then it doesn't apply to me)? If these free ranging birds end up with AI, then not only will they be culled, but all of the birds at the yard too, and also the flocks at 2 barn bird farms nearby. All because of one location where they aren't complying!!!

 

Sorry, rant over. It does make me angry!!!

words fail Me :wall:

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Well we have gone and bought chicken wire, polythene sheeting and fence posts and tomorrow we will extend our run.

 

However, I live on a housing estate in the middle of town, so don't have the likes of poultry farms near me, but would be devastated if I were Cotswold chickens. So I will do my bit, but I know the only other person near me with chickens is my friend over the road with 3 girls. About a 10 min walk away is a place that sells free range eggs and keep chickens, so I walked down there today to see what was happening. The chickens are still out free ranging, along with their ducks and geese. So hand on heart I seriously wonder why I am bothering?

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As I understand it, you can't keep geese indoors and if you read the DEFRA guidance it specifically refers to farmed geese and game birds and says that keepers must take appropriate steps to keep them from wild birds - what those steps are, I don't know but it's clearly envisaged that they won't be kept under cover.

 

It doesn't say this about ducks though - like Dogmother I think it's significant that the backyard flocks where it's been found so far are all mixed ones including ducks.

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I'm totally disgusted with the people who don't even bother - not one thought about the care of their own birds. I can't sleep because I'm thinking of buildings or marquees and goodness knows what else constructions are milling around in my head! I have the 3 in cube run plus an extra part can't make it longer as there's a huge oak tree in the way), I have the old wooden roosting bars set up as hanging platforms and I've now given them a silver ball to play with. Nasty scary thing that is. :roll: At Waitrose I bought a wild bird feeder with the bar across the middle for feeding birds with apples - I've strung up a head of calabrese with it. I alternate with another new bird feeder and ram greens in there. All these things and they whinge because it's new stuff. :roll: The feeders are all on a makeshift pulley thing that I can reach without going in the run and it can be set up further in the middle of the run. And then I'm not happy - I want them free ranging but no way until it's all clear. So why don't other people at least try? :anxious:

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unless things have changed in DEFRA it's easier to phone them

I know when We first got Allium leaf miner on the Allotments around here one of the the chairs emailed them with no reply so phoned them up to find out who to talk to or email which yielded a lot more results and direct contacted with the DEFRA boffin that was heading up the research at the time

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However, I live on a housing estate in the middle of town, so don't have the likes of poultry farms near me,

 

Don't be so sure - many of the colony farms we rescue from for BHWT are housed in large industrial units in an industrial estate right in the middle of towns. Not a green field in sight!

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This is from the DEFRA website

 

If you’re concerned about backyard flocks which haven’t been housed or kept separate, then the owner may not yet be aware of the requirement; you can contact your local Trading Standards team if you’re still concerned.

 

So maybe trading standards might be worth a shot...

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:lol: do you wanna join me on my soapbox K?

 

so I emailed defra about it and they've not bothered to reply either :roll:

They are too busy compiling a list of beekeepers who use generic Oxalic acid instead of the identical licensed, prepackaged, overpriced Apibioxal so that they can be prosecuted and sent to jail

 

 

:lol::lol::lol:

 

It's very frustrating isn't it DM!!!!

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