[Hevxxx99]

I've heard ducks and geese are the worst risk and that they don't show many symptoms, which presumably means they remain healthy enough to spread the virus far and wide. 

Geese, of course, are coming south at this time of year, not from Europe so presumably aren't importing it at all.

[Eve]

as it is a disease one has to report once we assume that's what it is.... will all one's birds be culled anyway or do they just cull the all the birds from industrial production units once they have a case? Asking as mine are pets....do they cull the wild ones if they diagnose the cases? I can't believe how many millions of birds have been culled so far across the world. And the first case of human infection in China. Things are not going away just yet.

Good question about the wild birds. If the worst happens, after a cull of all our birds I guess a ban is in place until no more wild birds are found infected? No idea about incubation times...
Mine are pets, too. I think culling is per geographical area, though, not on the birds commercial / pet status or I'd happily house mine in the kitchen for a while if that would save them from a cull.

[Eve]

Re the Christmas turkeys: they're already being processed, though? It's 10th today. The order is from 6th, it could have been for 15 days then and it would have sufficed.


If it is all about the Christmas birds then really Defra is protecting millions of Christmas dinners and preventing an awful lot of misery. Just imagine: "2016: the year the Christmas turkeys died". I doubt it is, though, but undeniably there are many more commercial birds around in December so a far greater risk.

[Daisys Mum]

at the moment they are having to stay in their houses until 3pm when I let them out for an hour so that I clean out and top up feeders and waterers.

Hmmm... The whole country is under lockdown and you let yours out




Like many people I don't have houses which were built for keeping them in but I am working on moving them in the next day or so to a stable but that also has to be bird proofed. I have around 50 birds so it is not a small task

[Creagan]

I'm at a loss about what I can do about this.
I thought about putting chicken wire over the top of the duck run, but that wouldn't really be sufficient, would it? Yet anything more solid, e.g. tarpaulin, would get shredded by the wind in a matter of hours.
If I simply lock them into their house, they will have no light and no pond. Plus the house is 'cosy' to start with.

[devonlad]

we spent the whole of yesterday, doing the "impossible" and netting our chicken run, to make it worse we only acquired a few new ex=bats last weekend and as they are still getting to grips with their new life we had to do their separate run too. A nightmare job in rain and mud but hey ho. we've used scaffolders debris netting which is light, tough and has small holes that shouldn't let bird poo through.

[Eve]

Definitely start with the chicken wire as the order has been in place since Tuesday already, then you can look into finer mesh or fabric netting later. Maybe you have some shade netting from a greenhouse?


Then cover their feed, just a sheet of plastic or metal on top of some breeze blocks and weighed down with some timber will do, whatever you have lying around in the garden. This is a time when all those things that were kept because they might come in handy one day actually do come in handy.
*owner of garage full of stuff* 

[Creagan]

That's reminded me, I have half a roll of shade netting somewhere, that should be helpful, and survive the wind much better than tarps or plastic sheets.
Feeders are all covered anyway, mostly to keep the driving rain out!

I'm only just back home, was away when I heard the news and couldn't really ask my mother to sort out anything by herself as she was house sitting for me.

[big soft moose]

Army surplus tarps are much more sturdy than the ones you buy in B&q or whatever - more like tent fabric , plus they are meant to be tied down

[Womble]

This is a time when all those things that were kept because they might come in handy one day actually do come in handy.

Me at the weekend:
"Dad, do you think you'll ever use your 1980s windsurfer sails again?"
"Well Womble, at 78 years old, and with a plastic shoulder, I very much doubt it. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, no reason  "

[ColinS]

Can't help feeling some response from the RSPB is rather overdue. They were quite quick and persistent in advising the public about disinfecting bird feeders etc. in the face of trichomonosis that was killing mainly green finches so why have they said nothing about what (if anything) those with feeders and bird-baths in their gardens could or should be doing in the current situation. After all, most of us are not going to get the virus delivered to our land directly by a migrant swan or goose - it's going to be via smaller birds (if this were not the case why would we be needing small-mesh netting/tarps for enclosures?)

So despite the belief at the RSPB that the spread of  trichomonosis might be significantly reduced by the actions of Joe Public in cleaning his bird feeders no such message has been pumped out for bird-flu despite the virus's apparent vulnerability to simple measures. Acidification of water to a pH of 5 or less will it seems inactivate the virus - see:-
http://www.jbc.org/content/262/36/17744.full.pdf
(sorry the paper is a bit pointy-headed but the message is clear)
And just for stock here is the pH vs dilution for apple cider vinegar (5% or 1Molar acetic acid):-
http://depts.washington.edu/chem/facilserv/lecturedemo/pHofAceticAcid-UWDept.ofChemistry.html
showing even 1ml per litre would easily drop the pH well below the 5.0 value required.

Anyway, I reckon giving feed in water acidified with apple cider vinegar seems like a worthwhile bit of biosecurity.

Also, dilutions as low as 1:500 of Trigene disinfectant wipes out H5N1 in 10 minutes as per:-
http://www.rapidmicrobiology.com/archived-news/?id=1688h5&item=a-safe-disinfectant-shown-effective-against-bird-flu&nid=2067

Though it would be good to know if its that good against H5N8 (but despite the current situation I can't find this bit of info anywhere)

[Marches Farmer]

I got a good range of tarps from tarpaulinsdirect.co.uk.   They've lasted very well for several years, apart from the one that got nibbled by mice (no, I don't know why either).

[Foobar]

I got a good range of tarps from tarpaulinsdirect.co.uk.   They've lasted very well for several years, apart from the one that got nibbled by mice (no, I don't know why either).

I've bought tarps from these too, good stuff, a range of thicknesses.  I think they sell mesh netting too for gates, which might be handy.  I can imagine mesh netting is a better option for most people, and gives you less of a wind problem than tarps.


My hens are now in the cow shed. They aren't impressed as its rather dark and gloomy in there.  On the plus side it does give me the opportunity to lay some rat traps in their run as the rats have recently start to burrow in from underneath!


Not sure how I stop the robins coming in the cow shed though ... but I guess as these aren't migrating birds then it's less of an issue?

[Eve]

Not sure how I stop the robins coming in the cow shed though ... but I guess as these aren't migrating birds then it's less of an issue?

I've been wondering about that, too. Exactly which birds can carry bird flu - all of them or just certain species? When it arrives in an area how long does it take to die out (no pun intended). I've looked around a bit on the defra and wildlife disease websites but haven't found the answers yet, I'll need to dig some more.


Same here with tarpaulinsdirect, btw. As for the rats, I've had mesh from meshdirect. Starting to notice a pattern here 


Bits of wooden pallets and the base of a dog cage have come in handy as well these last few days. At least it proves to my husband that it was ever so sensible of me to keep all these things for years on end 

[Marches Farmer]

It's the migrating species that can carry diseases.  Big flocks of Redwings seen overhead here since late September.  Fieldfares too.  Not really worried about our resident flock of sparrows, robins, nuthatches, tree creepers and so on.  I suppose migrating birds could pass the disease on to them and they could later infect our poultry but it's a stretch.