Avian influenza

I was out this morning cleaning ours, this has been about since at least may, we saw dead gannets on the beaches in Shetland it was heartbreaking having just watched them flying overhead.

It’s claimed the 9 year old pair of Swans and their last remaining cygnet from this year a couple of weeks ago on my local lake. It’s heartbreaking

Hate to be That Guy, but not quite correct, the wording is typically unhelpful and pretty crap copy:

...addition of housing measures to the AIPZ already in force across England means all bird keepers across England must:

housing or netting all poultry and captive birds

From https://www.gov.uk/government/news/avian-influenza-housing-order-to-be-introduced-across-england

It's getting earlier and longer each year, feels like our ladies have only been free for about 6 months 🙁 ours are technically outside but in a covered run, it's all we can do.
I guess it's better stick up on things to alter their behaviour, as every year they get bored, 1 starts feather plucking, then before we know it they're all doing it.
Poor things.

Decimated the waterfowl around Stratford last year. 🙁 Iirc in Israel it's having a brutal affect on their wild bird population.

I'm concerned for our half dozen hens. They have a hen house in a large uncovered compound that we can cover with mesh. And they have a chicken-wire pen inside the compound but if we have to keep them in that I worry about their quality of life. And it's still not impossible for a small bird like a wren or sparrow to slip in (and then get stuck).

Same. We currently have 9 hens and a cockerel.  It's doesn't feel that long since we were finally allowed to free range them after the last housing order. It'll be months of cramped confinement before they can peck the grass naturally again. With the confinement getting longer each year, it feels as if the days of free range poultry might be coming to an end. We stick to the rules and enforce strict cleanliness and bio security.  It's galling though when loads of people in our part of rural Shropshire ignore the rules and free range anyway.  Plus, it all feels a bit pointless as wild birds can still sometimes get in or crap through the mesh run roof.

Next door's hens, ducks and geese are all still roaming free, a couple of them were outside my window earlier.

Next door’s hens, ducks and geese are all still roaming free, a couple of them were outside my window earlier.

Flockdown doesn't start until the 7th.

Luckily I built my hens a palace during the last flockdown, so apart from a new tarp for the roof (on order) we are prepared.

There are plenty of reports of sick wild birds here on the Isle of Mull, but no restrictions here yet. Spent the afternoon cleaning the coop and relocating it to inside the polydome, as much to make cleaning etc easier over winter but they’ll still have the run of the garden during the day. As I drive around the island, there’s plenty of ‘free range’ birds in peoples gardens and TBH I doubt many will be bothered by the restrictions - otters and pine martens are probably a bigger concern. One of this year’s white tailed eagle chicks was a victim though. Doesn’t appeared to have affected the smaller birds yet judging by the numbers at the feeders today.

I've been thinking it may be better not to put out the bird feeder this winter. Anyone else the same or do we think the birds may be reliant on food being put out?

Birds have survived for an extremely long time before bird feeders were a thing.
It's also need a mild autumn do probably lots of food still

Yeh Ive come across dead gannets and guillemots here in Angus. I know from friends and ex-colleagues that Shetland closed access to three NNRs due to bird flu and some land managers took it as an other opportunity to tell people to **** off their land.

Loads of barrel feeders out around ours for pheasant, partridge, and ducks, soon to be shot, so I'm doubting a scoop on our bird table will make much difference.

Birds have survived for an extremely long time before bird feeders were a thing.

You mean before human habitat destruction was a thing? Grow up.

Edit: I should engage more intelligently. I’m just very angry about this.

It'll hopefully burn out soon, but it's pretty harrowing at the minute. No doubt all the released pheasant, partridge and duck shoots will gather their birds in...

Overall pretty upset by it. We used to enjoy a trip to the Isle of mey to see the seabirds. Maybe what's more upsetting is me knowing that the vast majority don't give a ****. My wife is more oblivious/naive to the cast majorities opinion.

Virologist Dr. Chris Smith says the new strain H10N8 can be transferred to humans, however this is quite rare at this time.

I really feel for everyone who keep domestic fowl and is doing the correct thing by taking them in. Let's hope things get better soon.

We've decided to keep feeding the wild birds but will clean feeders and bird baths thoroughly and report any dead bird sightings to Defra.

Not seen any dead birds, but the flock of starlings and the local sparrows seem to have disappeared, someone in my road told me she’s not seen the starlings around where she lives either. I also haven’t seen the blackbirds around lately, they don’t feed from the feeders, they go after stuff on the ground. Starling are flock birds, and sparrows are communal as well, so if it’s around it’s much more likely to spread quickly among them.

CountZero - hopefully in the case of the blackbirds, its migration time. The Northern birds come south, meaning your own garden blackbirds will move too. We've just had a big influx after a week with no sign of a blackbird.
There is frost in the forecast tonight so the birds have been pouring into the garden this morning. I even spotted a treecreeper, a rare visitor to our garden.

Friends of ours run a falconry experience business - they've been grounded by DEFRA - all birds to stay in the aviaries until further notice.
They've been told if one bird catches it their whole collection would need to be culled - that is £50k worth of birds.

Another one in rural Angus here; neighbours are already keeping their chooks indoors but unfortunately the nearby estate has recently released @4k pheasants into three areas of local woods. That's a heck of a lot of dense carriers/vectors for reinfection.
Our garden birds were almost wiped out in early spring '22, dead ones to pick up daily; yes, we're cleaning the feeders regularly and taking care of our own biosecurity. The population picked up surprisingly quickly this year, some species doing much better than others. Greenfinches for example disappeared altogether, while siskins seemed unaffected. We lost our wrens, robins and most of the spuggie/dunnock/chaffinch mob that live in the big hedges. Blue, coal & great tits all vanished and so far, only blue are back on a daily basis. Yellowhammers and goldfinches seemed largely unaffected, same for the doves. Skylarks out on he fields also seemed unaffected but sparrowhawks seem rarer. Kites are less frequent. Corvids are harder to gauge, they explore in vast, mixed flocks but the impression I get is that they too rebuilt populations really quickly from a spring low.

Currently no warning letter about it being found in the area and havent seen any dead birds round here.

Garden does seem quiet but then again it often is at this time of year. The starlings and sparrows normally turn up for breeding season and maybe in really bad winter. Everything else just comes in for quick raids and are easily missed. Can hear a reasonable amount of bird chatter currently though.

So for those of us trying to do their best do we not keep our feeders loaded or just clean them as much as possible? Only half fill and clean?

I'm filling mine as normal but cleaning them more often. Luckily I'm a compulsive feeder-buyer so I have twice as many as I need and can rotate them for ease.

Way I see it is that while it might be a disease risk, the urban bird population isn't sustainable without people feeding them and so it's either risk of deaths if we feed them or certainty of it if we don't.

Having said that, yesterday a sparrow watched me clean the bird bath and as soon as I refilled it, flew down and took a crap in it so they can reap what they sow...

The RSPB advice is clean the feeders weekly.
I am not bothering to fill the feeders much since they arent used much this time of year anyway (seems mostly just occasional checking they are still there) so its less waste/effort if there isnt much in them before emptying.
With the heavy rain it works anyway since the food gets quickly spoiled.

Our feeders empty very quickly if the cold weather arrives. Cleaning every time the feeder empties (usually 3- 4 days), then rotating with the 'spare' feeder. I can't stop the birds bathing/drinking from the pond but I am looking after the stone birdbath.

Nature just keeps on getting battered from all angles.

Just seen a couple of generic 'bugger off avian flu' notices down our lane where there's some bird shooting business. Just ignored them as it's a PROW, I'm on the track not near their pheasant pens, and there's no specific Scot Gov exclusion zone here.

I'll happily dunk my feet or wheels in a disinfectant bath either side if they put one out, but I'll not be stopping using the track. Their birds are all around where I live anyway, until they shoot them.

Local smallholder seems to be ignoring the restrictions and still has a decent flock of chickens roaming around 🙁

I've noticed a decrease in garden birds, we generally have a decent number of visitors but it's pretty quiet at the moment.

Our ex bats will no longer be allowed to roam free in the garden but we do have a small outer run they can use. It's impossible to stop some smaller birds getting in so i think our girls will still be at a slight risk.

Our ex bats will no longer be allowed to roam free

Pipistrelles who now identify as Rhode Island Reds? 😄

We are in the same boat, our mixed flock of rescue hens and pure breeds are confined to a fairly large run, but wild birds still get in. I think all you can do is be vigilant, disinfect feeders, use footbaths etc.

I’m concerned for our half dozen hens. They have a hen house in a large uncovered compound that we can cover with mesh.

If an infected bird lands on the mesh and poops through, that could be a source of infection. Maybe better with a solid top/tarpaulin of sorts.