Bird flu 2020-2021

Marigold

Marigold

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Bird flu crops up every year when commercial flocks are infected by migrating wild birds. We haven’t had a bad outbreak since 2017, and since then have escaped the requirement to keep all our poultry under cover. However, we still need to be vigilant, following news of an outbreak in Kent. This strain doesn’t appear to be particularly virulent or dangerous to humans, but all infected birds would have to be culled and an exclusion zone set up around the premises, whether it occurred at a large farm or in a small garden flock. So it would be good if we all read the DEFRA advice on biosecurity in the links below. The last thing we want is lockdown for our precious birds!
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/avian-influenza-bird-flu-identified-at-kent-farm

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

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/885476/ai-birdflu-leaflet.pdf
 
There's an outbreak in Cheshire too on a farm selling hatching eggs. Think the report said 14,000 birds culled.
 
Today we’ve received notification that a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu has been found both in domestic flocks and in wild birds. Hence a Protection Zone has been declared for England, Scotland and Wales.
Here we go again.
 
See https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/eggs-and-poultry/great-britain-bird-flu-risk-raised-to-high-after-cheshire-farm-outbreak/650192.article
If possible, protect your birds by keeping them enclosed and under cover, and away from any contact with wild birds or their droppings. If lockdown regulations do come into force for poultry we shall all have to do this anyway.
 
Bird flu Update !!!

All birds must be under cover from the 14th Dec.

Update 3 December 2020: The Chief Veterinary Officers for England, Scotland and Wales have agreed to bring in new measures to help protect poultry and captive birds. The new housing measures announced on the 3 December 2020, which will come into force on the 14 December 2020, mean that it will be a legal requirement for all bird keepers to keep their birds indoors and to follow strict biosecurity measures in order to limit the spread of and eradicate the disease.

These housing measures build on the strengthened biosecurity regulations that were brought in as part of the Avian Influenza Protection Zone (AIPZ) on 11 November 2020. The AIPZ means all bird keepers (whether they have pet birds, commercial flocks or just a few birds in a backyard flock) are required by law to take a range of biosecurity precautions.

Further details of the measures that apply in the AIPZ can be found in the AIPZ declaration and our biosecurity guidance.

Government Chief Veterinary Officers are encouraging bird keepers to use the next 11 days to prepare for new housing measures, including taking steps to safeguard animal welfare, consult their vet and where necessary put up additional housing.

To assist all bird keepers we have updated the biosecurity guidance and published a new self-assessment biosecurity checklist.

The decision to implement the housing measures from 12:01am on the 14 November 2020 in addition to the current AIPZ measures has been made in light of evidence from the continent and ongoing high numbers of findings among wild bird populations in England. The risk of incursion of avian influenza has been increased to very high for wild birds and medium for poultry with high biosecurity and high for poultry with poor biosecurity. Further details on the evidence which supported these decisions can be found in our risk assessments.
 
Here’s the link to DEFRA advice https://www.gov.uk/government/news/avian-influenza-bird-flu-national-prevention-zone-declared

Also see this https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/04/all-hens-and-other-farm-birds-to-be-kept-inside-in-gb-avian-flu-crackdown

Basically, as is only too common every year in the migration season, we all have to use the time to arrange to pen our birds in accommodation which excludes wild birds, preferably solid roofed so that wild birds can’t perch on mesh or netting and poo through it, or shake feather flakes through it, on to the chickens in the run below. No free ranging is possible whilst the regulations apply.
If one of your birds become infected they will all have to be destroyed, as will any other poultry within an exclusion zone around the infected premises. So you might be responsible for the deaths of your neighbour’s poultry, or the livelihood of the chicken breeder or farmer just down the road, even if their birds appeared healthy and uninfected.
 
Our birds have been in for a bit over two weeks now. We have two roofed runs, and the third is a mesh roof with tarp over it, the tarp had ripped in places, so that was replaced last week. They haven't been very happy, especially as they normally range far and wide, but it seemed pointless risking them for a couple of extra weeks when restrictions were already looming large.
 
Our large run is partially covered already, but as that is insufficient, I have ordered some insect/bird netting, which we will have to fix onto the panels and over the top to stop the wild birds coming in, especially the cheeky robin. It was on the cards to try and cover it all with 1/2" wire mesh, but as it was too fiddly and it's not the weather to be out, that will be delayed until Spring.
 
The BHWT have published an update on bird flu & why it's so important that we eliminate it from the UK and don't allow it to become endemic. The whole article is here, https://www.bhwt.org.uk/news/defra-invites-us-to-their-conference-on-avian-influenza-what-the-spread-of-ai-could-look-like-for-backyard-birds/?mc_cid=817bd2c83f&mc_eid=UNIQID on their website.

There have already been twice as many cases this winter as in the 2017 outbreak, so we can't afford to drop our guard. Our hens might be getting bored with being stuck in, but it's better than being dead :-(
 
Thank you for that, Icemaiden. It sounds as if we’re helping to keep our resident wild birds safe, as well as our poultry, by carrying on with their lockdown as well as our own.
 
The government website has had some recent updates but the restrictions are still in force. Scroll down to Further Information and you can click on your area of the UK.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/avian-influenza-bird-flu-national-prevention-zone-declared
 
When are the current restrictions going to end, they seem to have been going on for far longer than any in the past ?!
 
The Government website lists all the outbreaks, the most recent one being in mid-February. It seems to be endemic. I don’t know how they think we could ever get out if it, since wild birds are always flying around on migration one way or the other.
Most recent updates from DEFRA website below; I notice some of them are in backyard poultry. I’d like to know how those birds were being kept. The one at the wild bird rescue centre was sad. I wonder if someone brought in a sick bird, which then caused all the others to be culled?

The introduction of the these new measures follows a number of confirmed cases of avian influenza in England. This includes:

H5N2 (low pathogenic) avian influenza confirmed at a site near Deal in Kent on 2 November.
H5N8 (highly pathogenic) avian influenza confirmed at a site near Frodsham in Cheshire on 2 November
H5N8 (highly pathogenic) avian influenza confirmed at a broiler breeder farm near Leominster in Herefordshire on 10 November .
H5N8 (highly pathogenic) avian influenza was confirmed at a site near Stroud in Gloucestershire on 19 November.
H5N8 (highly pathogenic) confirmed at a premises near Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire on 21 November.
H5N8 (highly pathogenic) influenza confirmed at two premises near Northallerton, North Yorkshire on 29 November and 1 December.
H5N8 (highly pathogenic) influenza confirmed at a premises near Attleborough, Breckland, Norfolk on 4 December.
H5N8 (highly pathogenic) avian influenza confirmed at a premises near King’s Lynn, King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, Norfolk on 5 December.
H5N8 (highly pathogenic) avian influenza confirmed at a wild bird rescue centre near Droitwich Spa, Wychavon, Worcestershire on 13 December.
H5N8 (highly pathogenic) avian influenza confirmed at a premises near Near Willington, South Derbyshire, Derbyshire on 15 December.
H5N1 (highly pathogenic) avian influenza confirmed in backyard chickens near Hawes, Richmondshire, North Yorkshire on 18 December.
H5N8 (highly pathogenic) avian influenza confirmed in breeding ducks at a premises near Attleborough, Norfolk on 19 December.
H5N8 (highly pathogenic) avian influenza confirmed in a backyard flock near Gillingham, Dorset on 19 December.
H5N8 (highly pathogenic) avian influenza confirmed in captive birds near Attleborough, Norfolk on 26 December.
H5N8 (highly pathogenic) avian influenza confirmed in rearing ducks at a premises near Watton, Norfolk on 28 December.
H5N8 (highly pathogenic) avian influenza confirmed in backyard poultry at a premises near Exmouth, West Devon, Devon on 29 December.
H5N8 (highly pathogenic) avian influenza confirmed in laying chickens at a premises near Redcar, Redcar & Cleveland on 6 February 2021.
In each case Defra has acted quickly to cull affected birds and to introduce movement restrictions to limit the risk of the disease spreading.
 
Are we expected to just keep our chickens in doors then for the foreseeable future ? It has now been since Dec !
 
Not indoors - just under cover. In an outdoor run with a roof, with no access for wild birds, is fine. So long as they have enough space (min. 2sq. Metres of floor space per bird) and the run has plenty of light and is kept clean with plenty of bedding, the dry conditions are actually beneficial to them especially in winter. Of course it will be lovely when they can be let out to range during the day, but I think we have to reckon on these restrictions most years from now on, and have to adapt our runs and the numbers we keep, to give our hens enough space and comfortable conditions.
 
Good news! Chicken lockdown may be lifted at the end of March, if there are no significant outbreaks before then,
https://www.countrysmallholding.com/bird-flu-housing-measures-to-lift-1-6962697

If you’re intending to free range your birds, please have a look at the necessary biosecurity preparations set out in the article.
 
I was looking at the BBC News website this morning and was horrified to see an item about British hens having to be kept indoors as I thought restrictions had eased.

Panic over as it was an item from 5 December 2020, but I have no idea why it appeared again today.

A bit further down was the obituary for Stephen Hawking, dated 14th March 2018 ...
 
It's all repeats these days. That'd explain why the BBC weather forecast is wrong so often these days, if it's a rerun from 2018!
 
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