Cube mk2 and WIR

[Cat tails]

Complying is not going to limit infections in wild birds, but is reducing the risk of infecting your chickens. Like @Patricia W said, bird flu is likely to be a zoonotic disease and able to infect humans to some degree. So limiting your own contact with wild birds is sensible too. 

In the Netherlands these measures are also in place to protect the poultry industry. If backyard flocks become reservoirs of flu, those can form risks for poultry farms.

[Appenzeller]

Thanks both. Taking steps to limit infection in birds which might come into close contact with humans seems reasonable given the risk of human infection.
I disagree that keeping the chickens under cover is no problem for them, though. Even with a pretty huge walk-in run, my chickens would still much rather be exploring the garden. Seeing them scratch around in wood chips all day seems pretty miserable to me. Fingers crossed it doesn’t last until April again.

[Patricia W]

Chickens, like many animals, live in the present.  As long as they have sufficient space, food, water and somewhere to scratch around they are content.    After all, even without AI, many chickens are never able to free range because of the threat of predators in the vicinity.  They are happy, not deprived, just being kept safe. 

[Cat tails]

Can’t find an English source, but this article states that a German research groups says that the current outbreak of Avian Influenza is the worst one in human history.

https://nos.nl/l/2411315

[Luvachicken]

On the main news tonight, they said that someone in Hampshire (the county I live in - pretty big, so hopefully not near me) has caught avian flu and is isolating.

They said it is rare for a human to catch it from birds and warned people not to touch sickly looking or dead birds.

How do you know if you have bird flu, Covid or just a cold?  How contagious is bird flu in people? 

So many bugs around at the moment - obviously PCR tests etc for Covid - I'm tired of Covid now 

[Cat tails]

On 1/6/2022 at 10:10 PM, Luvachicken said:

On the main news tonight, they said that someone in Hampshire (the county I live in - pretty big, so hopefully not near me) has caught avian flu and is isolating.

They said it is rare for a human to catch it from birds and warned people not to touch sickly looking or dead birds.

How do you know if you have bird flu, Covid or just a cold?  How contagious is bird flu in people? 

So many bugs around at the moment - obviously PCR tests etc for Covid - I'm tired of Covid now 

The first person ever to catch bird flu was a Dutch vet. I think it is rare, but definitely possible. A blood test or PCR can easily show what virus you have. But right now they only use the test for Covid, but some samples are tested for other things over here too.

When avian flu first turned up, they were really afraid that it would be easily transmissible from human to human, but luckily it turned out that that doesn’t happen often.

But as with Covid, with every new variant of bird flu, it could all change.

[Col]

Hi there... 

I am keeping my girls housed under cover as required.. But their run isn't as spacious as I would like. I am thinking of extending their run onto ground that has not been covered and therefore an infection risk. How long would I have to cover the ground over for before any potential virus is inactive before building my covered run please..? 

Thanks very much

Col

 

[mullethunter]

I’m not sure if there is an answer to that.

What is the ground surface?

[Debbie1962]

Are restrictions in force in all areas of england?  I live in West Yorkshire and can't see any restrictions for this area now.

[Cat tails]

This website is clearly saying there are still measures for the whole of the UK:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/avian-influenza-bird-flu#latest-situation

[Debbie1962]

Okay, thank you.