Amateurs get blame again

[alldigging]

Health risk to poultry farms from the back garden flocks | Mail Online

Following on from the attack on amateur spud growers...

[Feral007]

Oh dear, we're shaped so I can't read this link, but it's probably like the things here where they say that if people are not spraying everything with a leaf every day then they should be forced to cut their fruit trees down so they don't pose a risk to the orchards.

There's room for us all in the world. I don't need you to do the things I do, so why do you feel I need to do the things you do?

[Bex]

Here Here Ali!

They treat us all like numpties

[veggiechicken]

Here are the emotive head lines, Feral - just to give you a flavour of it!

500,000 households across Britain pose a major threat to poultry industry
75% don't comply with regulations on feeding birds kitchen waste
Many who keep chickens don't know how to control disease in the birds
Nearly half of flock owners would not seek out a vet if chickens became ill
Keeping chickens is also major risk factor for diarrhoea in children

[VirginVegGrower]

Admittedly hen keeping is a learning curve, but we really couldn't give ours any more care, attention and money spending if we tried. The eggs should come gold plated. I pass a field on my school run, which has THOUSANDS of "happy hens" in it and massive sheds. You're telling me that they have a better life than mine? I don't think so!

[BUFFS]

this is only confirming something that i heard over 6 months ago,that some of these commercial guys want the amateur keeping of fowl to be discouraged,it would seem that some are feeling the pinch as more and more people are wanting eggs that taste of something besides nasty chemicals,i know that since i had to give up my birds thru ill health i cant seem to find eggs of the same quality that our girls gave us,it appears that they see no reason to move towards free range,where you get the real mccoy,well for me,they can go to the wall,i used to deliver milk to a battery hen producer and you could smell the place half a mile away,my chooks were cleaned up every morning so they had their coop area,5yds x 3yds clean and they were healthy chooks,and tame,one would sit on my lap if i sat out in the yard reading my paper,i dont think the commercial ones will ever be that happy...

[MartinRSharpe]

Firstly, its on the Daily Mail website, so if you expect anything more than sensationalist BS then you will be disappointed by their level of journalism.

While some of the data behind the study may be (and probably are) correct the conclusions are open to vast interpretation.

Also some of it just seems a bit odd

‘Even though evidence from our study shows that flock owners provide enriched living conditions to the chickens, they ought to realise that their pets are a farmed species and are subjected to regulations.

Yes, when there are more than 50 birds in a total poultry flock they have to be registered with DEFRA. Otherwise it is just suggestions like with any other domestic pet. [Please correct if I am wrong, I don't actually keep chickens at the moment]

Poultry vet Barry Thorp, from the St David’s Poultry Team practice in Scotland, said: ‘A lack of education and awareness by those who buy them certainly make the birds more vulnerable to disease and therefore pose a bigger threat of spreading it

The same can be said about any domestic "pet" animal. I bet the understanding of cat or dog illnesses is probably worse than the average understanding of chicken owner's understand of chicken illnesses.

[Glutton4...]

Firstly, its on the Daily Mail website, so if you expect anything more than sensationalist BS then you will be disappointed by their level of journalism...

With you there, Martin: The Daily Wail - Smell the BS!

My Folks read this sh!te, and believe every word. Drives me insane!

[squibbs]

Its the daily mail - its not worth wiping your bum on.


I'm also surprised that they haven't tried to implicate illegal immigrants and imply that we are giving everyone cancer by keeping chickens.

[lettucegrow!]

Sensationalism and yes probably an element of, 'we need to blame someone for the financial downturn '. I'm sure no one goes into hen keeping without reading up and gaining some general hen knowledge and the pests are much the same as other pets. Our 3/4 backyard chooks who enrich our daily lives and do not come under defra rules and regs are much loved and I'm sure are no health threat to anyone. We have to learn basic house keeping for hens and health and safety for us , so lots of extra awareness all round.
They'll be picking on someone else next week.

[Feral007]

You could catch cocciciodis (sp?) from getting wee'd on by a koala if you were walking under it over here.....Just thought I'd throw that into the mix.

It's not just the taste of the eggs either, at a party on the w/e and a lot of people slept over so we weren't drink driving. Next morning bacon and egg rolls for breaky (eggs supplied by a woman who lives on a farm and keep a few chooks) and the sydney people were remarking about the colour of the eggs!
I remember the kids asking if it was safe to eat when they saw a bright orange egg yolk, not the pale yellow imitation ones they were used to.

The farmed animals whether chooks or cattle, because of the lack of space and the stress they live in, require antibiotics in their food to stop them dying of unnatural living conditions. I had to drive 120 k's to a place that stocks chook food, layer mix and scratch mix that doesn't contain hormones or antibiotics. All the local rural shops only stock the ones with them in it.

When I say farmed, I mean when they are kept either caged or barned in huge numbers, or cattle who are brought into a small yard and then hand fed from calf size.

Mind you we haven't had an egg yet so I can't tell you how they taste! Won't be long now tho.

[Two_Sheds]

Here are the emotive head lines

Gosh, how unlike the Daily Mail

500,000 households across Britain pose a major threat to poultry industry

A threat to their profits, yeah

75% don't comply with regulations on feeding birds kitchen waste

which we all know is a crock of sh!t anyway. There's no risk to anyone but yourself if you feed your birds with kitchen scraps.

I have a feeling it's also technically illegal to take your kitchen peelings to your allotment

Many who keep chickens don't know how to control disease in the birds

and so they read up about it, and learn

Nearly half of flock owners would not seek out a vet if chickens became ill

I wouldn't take the dog to a vet unless her leg is hanging off, either.

Keeping chickens is also major risk factor for diarrhoea in children

But not as risky as other children are for spreading diseases. Let's ban people from having children, in case they infect other children.

[Two_Sheds]

My Folks read this sh!te, and believe every word.

I seriously think the DM is bad for mental health, so when I go to the paper shop for my higher quality daily () I hide the DM underneath the Star (another waste of paper), which in turn I hide under the Gridiron

[Samurailord]

I'm sure no one goes into hen keeping without reading up and gaining some general hen knowledge and the pests are much the same as other pets.

Unfortunately Lettuce, some people do.

They get the idea of keeping chickens from some TV program or other, get hold of a couple of spare chooks with no real idea or plan as to how to keep them of even if they can afford to look after them.

When I used to do door-to-door deliveries I went to one house where they had three chickens.

They didn't have a proper roost, they were locked in the kitchen overnight - when their owners could be bothered to bring them inside, that is - they were free to roam through everyone else's gardens throughout the day, and they were fed on a mixture of grass and left over scraps (including cooked and uncooked chicken bones) from the kitchen.

I asked how they had come to be looking after three chickens to be told that they fancied fresh eggs in the morning but they hadn't had a single one yet after three weeks. (I guess probably because they had been laying in all the other gardens instead)

He said if they didn't lay soon he was going to take his power saw to the smallest one's neck to 'encourage' the others.

Needless to say my first call back in the car was to the RSPCA.

I never went back so I don't know what happened - I don't believe that those folks were bad, just ill educated.

All it takes is one or two instances like that to sour the reputation of the good poultry keeper who spends lots of time and money to ensure that their birds get the best life they could get.

Andy

[BUFFS]

I used to lay sheets of donated dm under my chooks in the coop,so one lot of sh*** dropping on to an even lower layer of sh***,total recycling,all the manure went onto the compost bin,no problems there,worms cant read!!!!!!