Good idea or just more busybody control freaks?

[MrNoo]

IF??? , I have two Cock Pheasants that feed with the sheep and are it seems permanent residents on our land,
They are quite "Cocky" and strut about within a few feet of me so domesticated?
Do I register them?
Do I have to Tag them?

Got a Reeves here that is the same, very friendly but sleeps out.

 

[Dry Rot]

I found a dead hen in the run. Obviously been there a few days but took it to the vet anyway for an autopsy. Vet said he'd found nothing as the hen was too far gone. After that, I kept a close eye on them and saw one with the same symptoms. Got that one to the vet a bit quicker who said he would send it off to the pathology lab as it had him beat. After a few weeks, the report came back. "This chicken died from a broken neck". Well, I could have told them that!

 

[Bogweevil]

Asked for by farmers apparently to help protect commercial producers from diseases multiplying in home garden poultry - what is the beef?

 

[Lamb's Orchard]

No beef with farmers, but I'm loathe to trust Defra with the welfare of my chickens.

I do question whether domestic back garden flocks are a real risk to commercial producers. I thought that in most of the commercial flocks that contracted bird flu, it had been traced to either wild birds and/or poor biosecurity.

Are back garden flocks going to be subject to routine inspections to check for diseases and if so, how is that going to work and who is going to be paying for it? 🫤

 

[Cowabunga]

Do tiny flocks mix with large commercial bird flocks to transmit disease to them? What is the risk of that? Or is there a risk of permanent or at least persistent disease in these pet birds and tiny flocks that might evolve into something really nasty?
What justification is there for this new regulation?

 

[Daniel]

Do you have an opinion on this being good or bad @Daniel

They’ll never be able to police it. I understand the industry asked for all flocks over 10 birds to be registered so at least there would be some record to consult in the case of another big AI outbreak. But Defra decided to go for every bird.

 

[Old Boar]

So how do I register this lot? I did have 4 more hens but a stray dog killed them. Mr and Mrs P are around all the time and peck your wellies if you are slow with the feed!

And what about these two on the left?

 

[Kidds]

Do tiny flocks mix with large commercial bird flocks to transmit disease to them? What is the risk of that? Or is there a risk of permanent or at least persistent disease in these pet birds and tiny flocks that might evolve into something really nasty?
What justification is there for this new regulation?

The theory is that close contact with birds is the most likely way avian flu is going to jump species and cause an avian flu epidemic amongst humans. This is very likely to happen and will almost certainly happen in Asia and almost definitely not in a UK backyard. Very much in the same way covid 19 transmitted from bats to humans (if that is what happened) and AIDS from monkeys to humans. That is the important risk but I don't think this law will combat this in any way nor does it justify it.
I think the current claim/justification is so the Government is able to contact domestic fowl keepers to warn them of a local avian flu outbreak and measures that should be taken. Going on past examples this will fail to do anything useful if it is ever required and most likely will fail completely from the off by the email system malfunctioning at the critical time, all email addresses posted accidentally on a foreign website and then mysteriously deleted by a cleaner at the email centre the day before they were needed or some other version of the usual bollokcs. Meanwhile it will be a route to further interfere with people's lives as seems to be the endless trend.

 

[Hampton]

Many years ago when we kept a few hens, one developed a very swollen crop. OH found and rang a vet on a Friday evening, we could take it in to be checked. I wanted to leave it overnight, but we stuffed the the thing in a box and found the vet who had come out from home. He diagnosed an impacted crop which is what it I thought it was. Could we do anything ? No, it would need to be put down, he could do it, followed by a PM which showed it had an impacted crop. He would also dispose of the carcase for us. I drove home thinking our vets were wonderful, we weren't registered with him, never met him before and as far as I knew he didn't know our address etc.
A month later a bill for £80
Next hen to show ailments had it's neck rung and was laid to rest in the green bin.

That can’t have been Gerrard or Pete. They’d have rung it’s neck and had it for Sunday lunch

 

[DrWazzock]

Of course it will jump species. It’s only a matter of time and probably has done akresdy . But it’s just how diseases work. Then immunity will be built, some people will possibly die of it. That sort of thing has been happening for centuries hasnt it? Trying to stop it is as futile as trying to keep the tide out with a yard brush but that never stopped civil servants did it?
You also have to ask yourself how fundamentally robust our systems are when a naturally mutating virus can bring them to their knees.

 

[DrWazzock]

In our family I’m quite sure we’ve had loads of viruses that the NHS is absolutely clueless about. Aching joints, muscle pains, getting up for a pee three times a night then it settles back down again. They always put it down to “a virus” but they’ve no idea which one and does it really matter. Lots of folk here with long term chronic coughs. Lasts for weeks. Nobody really knows the root cause. It’s just one of those things.

 

[Whitewalker]

How does registering my pet duck protect the national flock?

Defra announces changes to the GB poultry register

All birdkeepers, regardless of the size of their flock, will be required to officially register their birds under new measures announced by Defra.

www.nfuonline.com

Happens in northern Ireland with bird flocks , pet pigs and goats even pygmy ones

 

[Still Farming]

Big tag in their neck too is it??

Their already accounted for on
June returns,
Single farm payment paperwork
Trading standards inspects
Etc etc etc