Lock up your birds

There's been a lot of sloppy reporting in the media, where they've used wording such as "asked to", "have been told to", "advised to", "been requested to", "urged to", etc., etc. to describe something that's compulsory with non-compliance punishable by 6 months imprisonment and/or a £5,000 fine!

Sounds like your Scottish Government office equivalent of English DEFFRA is trying to wriggle out of enforcing things.

When 'Bird Flu' first became an issue and legislation was hurriedly introduced, bringing in powers to compel poultry keepers to keep their birds "under cover", I got no sense from DEFRA as to what they actually required, so got my MP involved in getting DEFRA to produce a guidance leaflet clearly setting out what was required.

 

I don't like the Scottish Government but on this occasion @Scrungee they are not the "culprits". Having read your post I decided to check exactly who I had been speaking to this morning and got zero help, yup Defra in England, not Scotland so would appear from what I was told it's being advised but not a legal requirement....yet, that is by which time the flu may have spread, shutting doors/horses and bolted comes to mind.

 

DEFRA website https://www.gov.uk/guidance/avian-influenza-bird-flu

The zones require the immediate and compulsory housing of domestic chickens, hens, turkeys and ducks
Click to expand...​

Could you then complain to your UK MP + MSP as guidance for Scotland doesn't appear so explicit in the need for compliance http://www.gov.scot/Topics/farmingrural/Agriculture/animal-welfare/Diseases/disease/avian and DEFRA are giving out wrong advice.

It sounds like complete incompetence that DEFRA are handing out incorrect advice to callers from Scotland who are under the jurisdiction of The Scottish Government.

 

I'll phone our council in the morning. However, when I phoned Defra ENGLAND I never even got as far as saying WHERE I was phoning from, could have been from Mars as far as Defra was concerned! They have set up a special dept to deal with calls re the influenza outbreak. You press 6 to speak to those who proport to know what they are talking about. Stupid person got quite shirty when I suggested it was more their job than mine to enforce the ruling. They never even bothered to ask where I was phoning from! @Scrungee the person I spoke to didn't have a clue which part of the UK I was phoning from and certainly didn't bother to ask.

 

Bird flu strikes at Christmas turkey farm in Lincolnshire

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...umber-turkeys-farm-lincolnshiretest-positive/

The media is now full of reports of poultry farmers/keepers ignoring the order to 'keep birds indoors' and about DEFRA and Local Authorities totally ignoring hundreds of reports made to them about those flouting the regulations.

Friends, relatives and farmers we know, all see those around them ignoring the order and say DEFRA aren't interested.

 

Yup, same story around here too.
Why, oh why, do some people exist with the attitude that regulations/laws are only there for *other* people? Compounded by those who *should* enforce it either not having the time/resources/interest in doing so!

 

Totally agree. I left a message on the answer phone of APHA (Definitely who is responsible for policing or NOT the situation up here in Scotland anyway (got this information from Fife Council)) saying my neighbour was not complying. Did this on Monday, not a sign of anybody bothering to appear and make neighbour comply, SO I telephoned again yesterday and got some idiot who kept saying "do you want to speak to a vet to find out the symptoms" NO the birds aren't mine. I asked repeatedly if the keeping of fowl indoors was enforceable and they never answered the question so obviously the answer to that is NO whatever the press may be saying.
Complete shambles, shades of Foot and Mouth which at the beginning of the outbreak was incredibly badly handled. The outbreak started quite close to where my friend's farm is and indeed her neighbouring farmer had been to the auction where the infected sheep were deemed to have come from.
People in white suits (Defra or similar I expect) went to neighbour's farm to check his sheep and decided to slaughter the lot as not certain the sheep weren't infected.
As the people in white suits left the farm they took their suits off and threw them onto my friend's land where their prize herd of Aberdeen Angus were grazing.......you couldn't make it up! My friend's husband almost had a heart attack when he discovered the suits and drove to the headquarters of where the outbreak was being coordinated and eventually got to see the "head man". Walked into his office with the suits in a holdall and threw the suits at him which did get the person's attention! Friend's husband said he was more than happy to have been arrested as he was sure if the reason for his actions hit the headlines heads might have rolled. He wasn't arrested.....funny that!

 

Hello!
Just thought I'd have a quick peep on here to see what was going on.

Last week I had the Village josworth aka Ian who volunteers for trading standards post a load of stuff about this very subject through my door after speaking to the community council! Good Lord I was livid.....he got an email off me explaining exactly what I was doing! I have been following the DEFRA website very closely for about the last 6-8 weeks, I have friends in Luxumburg who have been kindly keeping me up to speed with the avian influenza outbreak.
The biggest problem with these rules is quite simply they are not consistent Nigel Gibbens Defra chief vet tweets 'people with small backyard flocks do sensible things like feed wild birds away from your flock' when in actual fact he should have said....feed wild birds away from your flock, cover your runs to prevent wild bird droppings entering your run, clean up chicken poo ASAP, do not allow wild birds into your run or near the water drinkers or feeders, £5000 penalties will be applied if you do not follow the rules! Because there's not consistent rules being applied the general public are thinking it's not a rule for them.....it's ridiculous! I've been literally scrubbing the run floor with poultry sheild, poo picking at least twice a day & washing the wild bird feeders with poultry sheild (I've stopped feeding the wild birds now...although the RSPCA have said it's ok to feed them as long as it's not near your chickens).
I've put a cover over the top of my run to stop wildbirds droppings falling into the run. I have a bucket with a lid filled with poultry sheild for our wellies & some poultry sheild in spray form for cleaning out the coop.
I just wish DEFRA would give out clear advice, the website, the chief vet & trading standards need to be on the same page!

 

I think it's one of their training courses; only accredited idiots get the job

 

Hardly! My birds brains are of a higher intelligence than "idiot"