Bird Flu Alert - keep poultry under cover, DEFRA.

I meant to say not finished but usable. Of course I tacked wire mesh over each pallet.
 
Another outbreak in a backyard flock in Yorkshire
;
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/avian-flu-confirmed-in-backyard-flock-in-yorkshire

And also at the Abbotsbury Swannery in Dorset, sadly.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/09/bird-flu-outbreak-avian-influenza-h5n8-virus-abbotsbury-swannery-dorset
This is a problem because there are hundreds of swans that breed there, and they can't be confined because they're wild birds.
 
More developments. The slaughter area has been enlarged and now 300,000 will be killed. The number of affected communes (surrounding villages) is up from 149 to 187. There have been 87 cases of H5N8 detected here in the 4 far Departments of the Southwest . The virus that resulted in the mass slaughter last year was H5N5, so nothing to do with that except that the biosecurity measures introduced after that outbreak haven't worked this year.

So far no chickens affected in this region and no measures introduced. I have also heard that they interrogate the local feed suppliers to get lists of customers, so even if you don't notify the authorities if required to, they will still track you down if you buy recognised poultry feed. Law here is that all records of purchases must be kept for 5 years. Worrying times!
 
We don't hear anything in the UK from DEFRA about the situation in Europe, or these mass culls. In fact, I expect there are hundreds of people in the UK with just a few pet birds in the back garden who haven't heard anything about the present regulations for confining birds, or who just think it doesn't apply to them. There was a post last week on another forum from someone who had just had two of her three hens die, asking what to do about the remaining oldie, a bird 8 years old. Would her quality of life be better if two new ones were introduced, or 'will she just be happy to continue free ranging in the garden with the wild birds for company?" And anyone who bothers to join a forum and ask for help with aged hens is obviously not one of those ignorant keepers who aren't bothered about their birds.
 
This link about the progress of the annual strains of bird flu in both animals and humans makes interesting reading. Unfortunately it only goes as far as 2012, so doesn't contain any evidence about the current strain. However, it does make it clear that the earlier outbreaks in Indonesia and the Midddle East were largely centred on family groups, probably people keeping the equivalent of our backyard chickens for eggs and meat. Mortality rats were around 60%. The risk of infection from close contact with poultry is very low with the current strain, but the danger lies in the possibility of it mutating, as it could easily do if, for example, a person with seasonal flu was exposed to the HN virus at the same time. Unlike seasonal flu, HN is not transmitted via infected droplets from coughing and sneezing, apparently it gets deep into bronchial passages through inhaling infected dust from dried bird droppings, so keepers of poultry are in the front line, especially if they have lowered immunity levels for reasons of age or other medical conditions, eg asthma ec. Research has shown that it was most probably a mutated HN strain which caused the worldwide flu pandemic in 1918, which killed more people than the 1st world war, including the young and healthy, so it could happen again. The link also shows that mammals fed with infected bird carcasses have died, eg cats eating wild bird corpses, and tigers in zoos ec. Scary stuff.
See http://www.who.int/influenza/human_animal_interface/H5N1_avian_influenza_update.pdf
 
Would it be tempting fate to say that it looks to have levelled out over the past week - Probably so I didn’t say that!
I found this leaflet from DEFRA
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/581952/ai-birdflu-factsheet-170106.pdf
Its good to note that they talk a lot about reducing stress in the current situation and recognise that complete enclosure may be desirable but not always possible.
Apparently there was a H5N8 (same strain as now) outbreak in Ireland in 1987 that was pretty devastating to poultry but at that time. Very pathogenic to turkeys but it couldn’t be induced in laboratory ducks. Obviously not the case now!
 
I've just been reading a newspaper article about the mass culling of ducks in France by gassing with CO2. Apparently they were reared for the production of foie gras, so I can't help but feel that horrible though the cull is, they've got off lightly & that if it finishes off the industry, it'll actually be a good thing in this instance.

Apologies if this sounds terribly un-pc, but the fois gras industry is a terrible thing.
 
I agree with you, Icemaiden about the industry that makes ducks suffer so, it must be awful to behold. No creature deserves to be treated so.

I could cry for my girls at the moment, no garden freedom, which is their greatest love! I have discovered a new treat for them which they seem to love, Wilko's wild bird fat balls. Only one at a time every other day, but they savage it in a great melee, mostly of huge black glossy bodies!!

It is the only time the Croads really move and assert themselves over anything, they are so relaxed, nothing much bothers them, even my very elderly, retired, having a sly but effective peck, Speckeldy, Jojo, is ignored.

The run is dreadful at the moment, with two very large puddles in it. I wish I could buy Croad Wellies.
 
The fois gras business down here is based on very small farms with the ducks and geese free ranging. Whilst they may 'cram' the necks to overfeed them, other than that they live very natural lives, unlike battery and barn hens. Of course ducks and geese store their food in their necks anyway, so cramming isn't so unnatural. They don't just use the liver, the rest of the bird goes to market and is utilised. Duck breast here is particularly tasty (and expensive)- we had some on Sunday! It was lovely to see flocks of ducks and geese in the fields sun bathing, but now that has gone here. Production in the rest of France continues of course, although they may keep their birds in sheds because of the weather.

Not sure they do gas them with CO2 Icemaiden? It is effectively suffocation, so not a quick end at all.
 
The news link that talked about gassing with CO2 was from one of the UK broadsheets Chris- I found it by following links from the article about Abbotsbury swannery on this thread. Perhaps they use CO2 so that the culled birds can still be eaten?
 
Not sure what they are doing with the slaughtered birds Icemaiden. They did announce early on that they were still fit for human consumption though!

Chap interviewed yesterday said he was switching from ducks to raise chickens for meat. They are being compensated €8-€10 per bird and converting his facilities and buying in chicks was what he was going to spend the money on. He said that in the last year he had worked 7 days a week and had earned absolutely nothing because all his birds had been slaughtered twice, so perhaps they are not going for human consumption?

Surprising really, because the perception here is that the H5N5 virus found in ducks and geese won't be transferred to chickens. I think it's the H5N8 virus in the UK, which is the strain they had in Southwest France last year and it affected ducks, geese and chickens. This year farms with ducks and chickens are only having their ducks killed.
 
Just seen this advert for the Bristish World Homing Show (pigeons) in Blackpool. http://www.rpra.org/show-of-the-year-2017-gala-evening/ There's an article about it in the Guardian as well. why do we have to keep our birds under cover if they still have bird/poultry shows?
 
The National news says the number of Communes now affected by compulsory slaughter of their geese and ducks in Southwest France has today been increased from 187 to 337. That may take the number of birds killed to well over 500,000? I'll see what the regional news says at lunchtime.

Regional news said nothing at all, perhaps because it's so bad for the Region it's best swept under the carpet?
 
The rationale behind CO2 mix gassing is that it is more humane than killing the birds after electrified water bath stunning. The argument goes that the birds don't have to be uncrated and then hung upside down before being passed through an electrified water bath which doesn't always do the job.
 
Latest update on Bird Flu restrictions. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/avian-influenza-bird-flu#planned-controls-in-england-from-28-february-2017
Good news for some, but have a careful look at the map after you've put in your postcode, to see whether, like me, you're still in a high risk area where restrictions continue.
 
Out of curiosity I had a look on the map Marigold. Seems we would have been in a high risk area and have had to keep them in confinement. Of course we don't know what will happen here next year- may be same as 2016 when we had H5N8 (H5N5 this year) and they all have to stay under cover?
 
Were in the clear - Woohoo! (well just 'high' risk and not 'higher' risk anyway)
I remember you saying about the free range industry Marigold. Looks like they have got round it for most by defining these fairly complex areas. Couldn’t have happened without the internet.
I guess Wales will have to come up with a similar scheme very soon or do something more general as it has been up till the 28th.
 
News report here yesterday (which I think I have translated correctly) says they have identified the source of the H5N5 outbreak which has resulted in perhaps half a million ducks and geese being slaughtered. A hatchery in the Tarn, which is outside the affected area, sold infected chicks to three farms in our area. The infection in those three farms was then spread by feed delivery lorries to the whole Region. The hatchery is to be prosecuted and quite rightly so. The bill for the slaughtering operation and compensation to the farmers is €30 million I think?
 
So how were the chicks infected? Is the virus carried in the egg, as presumably the chicks had no contact with wild birds? More likely a slip up in biosecurity and it came in via the human route, I suppose, on shoes etc.
 
Perhaps the breeding stock was infected and it was then transferred to the chicks by contact from the workers Marigold? Don't know if it transfers in the egg though, although some viruses do?
 
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