[Richmond]

Just had notification from APHA - lockdown for all poultry as from Monday 29th November.

[Fleecewife]

Me too!  I thought judging by last year that we had another couple of weeks....

[Rosemary]

Just looked back the diary and we housed ours on 12th December last year. I have heard from a reliable and knowledgeable source that there was an outbreak in the summer, whihc was not publicised. I wonder if this is becoming endemic.

[twizzel]

Nice that they’ve given plenty of notice. A week would have been enough. I’ll not get my hens covered by Monday especially with the forecast storm coming at the weekend.

[Richmond]

I expect there will be yearly lockdowns from now on.     Do we reduce numbers to the point where everything can be housed easily if need be (realistically probably less than 10 hens) or spend a fortune building barns and other undercover areas if we want to keep larger numbers/types of poultry? I for one can't afford the latter. It just seems all wrong somehow. The majority of smallholders' poultry which is allowed to free range as nature intended is far healthier than the commercial flocks in barns (interestingly the majority of bird flu outbreaks are in commercial flocks) but we are told to shut up our birds  just like the commercial ones, therefore stressing our birds and making them more likely to succumb to illness.

[twizzel]

I expect there will be yearly lockdowns from now on.     Do we reduce numbers to the point where everything can be housed easily if need be (realistically probably less than 10 hens) or spend a fortune building barns and other undercover areas if we want to keep larger numbers/types of poultry? I for one can't afford the latter. It just seems all wrong somehow. The majority of smallholders' poultry which is allowed to free range as nature intended is far healthier than the commercial flocks in barns (interestingly the majority of bird flu outbreaks are in commercial flocks) but we are told to shut up our birds  just like the commercial ones, therefore stressing our birds and making them more likely to succumb to illness.

If it was short term I could house everything undercover. But not at the expense of leaving my sheep to lamb outside   

[harmony]

I might of said this last time so apologies if I am repeating myself.


The numbers in wild birds is tiny in comparison to the size of the wild bird population. The figures are on the gov.uk site if you google avian flu. Single figures generally with occasional double figure outbreaks. Usually where you have waterfowl on a particular stretch of water. I appreciate that some birds wont be found or not collected for testing but if wild birds were dying in great numbers I'm sure someone would notice eventually.


We are housing to protect commercial enterprises though outbreaks do occur in domestic settings and one outbreak is a rescue centre.


It seems to me that housing all poultry is unnecessary and anyway lots of people don't comply and the outbreaks stay fairly low. Often commercial sites spread it between their locations through poor bio security. The vast majority of commercial units are housed anyway but infection is still getting in and not from exposure to domestic flocks.


Another option would be to put zones around all commercial units. Annoying for those caught in the zone but better than a blanket housing order affecting many whose chance of getting it is very, very small.

[Forestlens]

I have a quandary about my rhea (N.B. spelling - not rear!). They graze with the sheep, only eat grass ( and nettles which is a bonus). I’m waiting a response from our “bird” vet but housing or confining them to a netted cage would rapidly become a welfare issue.
Anyone else mad enough to own them? Any suggestions?

[Fleecewife]

Ditto our geese - they only eat grass and they graze with the sheep.  During lockdown they are penned on grass - they cope, but it's far from ideal.
There used to be 3 rheas running feral on the estate across the valley, then 3 appeared at a farm in the village - I expect they are the same animals.  I haven't seen them since last lockdown, so perhaps they moved them on because of the same difficulty you have.
Sorry I don't have any advice other than to check with APHA but I suspect they will have to be confined somehow.

[Womble]

Wahey! It's like having another annual festival, just for poultry keepers! #flockdown

[harmony]

Wahey! It's like having another annual festival, just for poultry keepers! #flockdown

Or some might think of it as a #flock up! 

[Richmond]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe ducks and geese can be outside, just not with access to water that wild birds use. Unless I hear otherwise that's what I'm doing with mine anyway. I currently have surplus ganders in my flock and if confined they will fight big time. The youngsters need to go in the freezer but currently there's no room due to having recently filled them up with our lamb and pork!

[Backinwellies]

Nice that they’ve given plenty of notice. A week would have been enough. I’ll not get my hens covered by Monday especially with the forecast storm coming at the weekend.

To be fair there has been so many outbreaks (2 or 3 a day for the past week)  this isnt really a suprise . 

[Bywaters]

This has been on the cards for a couple of weeks
If you get the Apha (?) updates it was always going to be when and not if, as the reports covered more and more of the UK

Not sure about ducks and geese being exempt - not read that anywhere and they are still poultry / birds

[Forestlens]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe ducks and geese can be outside, just not with access to water that wild birds use. Unless I hear otherwise that's what I'm doing with mine anyway. I currently have surplus ganders in my flock and if confined they will fight big time. The youngsters need to go in the freezer but currently there's no room due to having recently filled them up with our lamb and pork!

I think they still have to be in a netted enclosure. Extract below:

Biosecurity and preventing welfare impacts in poultry and captive birds
Advice for all captive bird and poultry keepers (including game birds, waterfowl, and pet birds)
03 November 2021

Domestic ducks and geese
If housing is a government requirement and you keep small numbers of ducks and geese, it may be possible to house them. If this measure is not possible, ducks and geese should be kept in fully netted areas or temporary netted structures, where practical. All feeding and watering should take place under cover. You should consider using wild bird deterrents to prevent contact with wild birds. Where possible, avoid keeping ducks and geese with other poultry species as they often don’t show any signs of disease but can still pass it on to chickens, turkeys or other poultry species. End.