Defra bird flu update 23-12-16

Amye

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There are still chickens and ducks out round me.

I don't have any birds myself but wish they would follow the rules and confine them!

Hope everyone's birds are dealing with the confinement and hoping there's an end to it soon!

ETA: ycbm - Herring gulls (and other species of gulls) are being found in cities and towns more commonly now. They are highly adaptable and there's lots of waste for them to take advantage of! We get alot of lesser blackbacked gulls in Leeds.
 
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JillA

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Local farm shop producer has theirs in now - when I drove past the poor things looked a bit like sardines, confined in a hen house designed for them to sleep in. Mine are doing well but costing me a fortune in supplementary treats - sunflower seeds are the current favourites.
 

MotherOfChickens

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Mine are doing well but costing me a fortune in supplementary treats - sunflower seeds are the current favourites.

don't let them get too fat ;)

Tescos were selling off icebergs and sweetheart cabbages at 9p each last night-will help keep mine happy for a few days. My lot are getting used to it-hens are laying up a storm, muscovy ducks are quite lazy anyway although some of the girls will be issuing flying, geese have settled down a bit.the ducks should be coming into lay any day now.
 

PorkChop

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don't let them get too fat ;)

Tescos were selling off icebergs and sweetheart cabbages at 9p each last night-will help keep mine happy for a few days. My lot are getting used to it-hens are laying up a storm, muscovy ducks are quite lazy anyway although some of the girls will be issuing flying, geese have settled down a bit.the ducks should be coming into lay any day now.

My ducks started laying about a week ago, just put some eggs in the incubator, something nice to look forward to :)

No surprise to the extension of the lock down though.
 

Wimbles

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Obviously it's not ideal but all our birds seem to be coping well. The bantams have come into lay which is a nice surprise.

I feel most sorry for the geese but they will survive.

I made myself unpopular on Monday when I was dragged to see one of my OH's ex work colleagues. When we got there the first thing to greet us was a hen wandering around followed by three runner ducks. I lack that filter that sits between brain and mouth and I blurted out my disdain for her not having the birds in.

Her excuse was that she couldn't catch them, so out shoots my one good arm and I grab a duck and hand it to her. As you can imagine it was a bit of a lead balloon moment.

I struggle to understand her apathy as she is an intelligent woman and obviously cares for her animals. Makes me very cross.
 

MotherOfChickens

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I struggle to understand her apathy as she is an intelligent woman and obviously cares for her animals. Makes me very cross.

I have found people on FB like that-its just too difficult apparently. They are happy when its all easy but dont want to put the effort in to keep them safe (often the same sort of people that seem to keep chooks just to feed local foxes).

I am fed up of people's excuses and whining about it, yes its more expensive and more work but its the same for all of us-or should be. Felt sorry for a guy in France who posted that his flock are all being culled despite following lockdown procedures because he's close to the duck farm thats just gone down with it. He says its been the same there-too many people not following the advice. I'd be gutted if that was to happen to my ducks, on my third generation now.
 

JillA

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I did post on FB emphasising the risk, not to the national flock, but to people's own birds if they got infected. Quite a few people said they hadn't realised
 

popsdosh

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Obviously it's not ideal but all our birds seem to be coping well. The bantams have come into lay which is a nice surprise.

I feel most sorry for the geese but they will survive.

I made myself unpopular on Monday when I was dragged to see one of my OH's ex work colleagues. When we got there the first thing to greet us was a hen wandering around followed by three runner ducks. I lack that filter that sits between brain and mouth and I blurted out my disdain for her not having the birds in.

Her excuse was that she couldn't catch them, so out shoots my one good arm and I grab a duck and hand it to her. As you can imagine it was a bit of a lead balloon moment.

I struggle to understand her apathy as she is an intelligent woman and obviously cares for her animals. Makes me very cross.

What I find totally crazy is places like Slimbridge and Welney still being open to the public when it is coming in on migrating birds. Bizarre.
 
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