Bird Flu
Posted: Friday 7 April, 2006
Some of you will be aware that a swan in Fife has been found to have died of the H5N1 strain of avian influenza (bird flu). We're about 50 miles away from Cellardyke, the small coastal village where the swan was found, dead on the beach, about 2 weeks ago. At the moment this has had no effect on us - there are restrictions on the transportation of poultry and eggs in the area, and poulty keepers around Cellardyke are now required to keep their flocks contained - but so far we're outside any restriction zones. Apparently pigs can carry the virus too, so if it does come to sunny Clackmannanshire our boys might have a stay of execution!
It's a relief that the response from the authorities has so far been measured and reasonable. I'm sure that if certain parts of the media had their way there would already be smouldering pyres of thousands of birds in a foot and mouth stylee - it would make great TV and front page splashes. Fortunately it's well understood by those who need to make the decisions that there are no practical means of containing the spread of bird flu, and that the swan in Fife is very unlikely to be the first bird in Britain to die from H5N1 - it just happens to be the first that was reported and found to have the virus.
Vaccination is one option we'd consider - our hens are young and only one step removed from our pets. It's said to cost about £2-3 per bird, and we'd be more than happy to pay that. Time will tell whether that's an option made available to us.
The measures put in place for poultry flocks do make sense, but it's inevitable that domestic fowl somewhere at sometime in the coming months will contract the virus, and entire flocks will have to be killed. There's a chance our hens and cockerel will have to be killed since we live about 100 metres from an island which is home to thousands of migrating wild fowl, and our birds are totally free-range - they would probably be considered as high risk. We'll be very sad if it comes to that, so we're preparing for the worst but hoping for the best.
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Comments
Andrew
Oy, I hope it goes well. H5N1 should make it to North America this year and I hope our authorities don't go insane. It's going to spread everywhere and killing off all domestic birds isn't going to stop it. I just hope they don't put the small house flocks on the extinction list. :(
It's unfortunate, but it'll be interesting to compare notes non the less.
Dave H
Good luck! I can only hope the authorities here are as restrained when we get struck...
Do keep us posted on things.
Be well,
Dave H.
jb
I will say a prayer that your babies remain safe. I've enjoyed your site tremendously, living vicariously through your family (which wholeheartedly include your animals). My family and I wish you all the best.
Keith
I hope all goes well for you. Bird flu has reached us in Burkina Faso too, and it is potentially disastrous for us as everyone has such close contact with poultry.
Best wishes
Wildside
"It's a relief that the response from the authorities has so far been measured and reasonable. I'm sure that if certain parts of the media had their way there would already be smouldering pyres of thousands of birds in a foot and mouth stylee - it would make great TV and front page splashes."
I've heard about your swan scare and this means more bird flu talk on our TV and radio. People here tend to over-react, especially the media or perhaps it's all due to media's powerful influence, so reading this today is some relief to me too (as I've got a couple adopted hens as pets). I'll keep hoping for the best for you & all your chooks as well.
Comments are now closed for this post.
Frankie
Friday 7 April, 2006 at 10:42pm
Fingers crossed for you. I think it's 'here we go again' with the press - mad cows, SARS and now another potential killer bug that might or might not kill lots of people. I hope that your birds don't have to pay the price.