Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[kattabelly]

There we go again:
For the first time since March, bird flu has been detected in the Netherlands. A broiler farm in Gasselternijveenschemond, near Stadskanaal in the province of Drenthe, has been affected. 71,000 birds are being culled.

That time of year...

Have you (you personally, or "backyard" poultry keepers in the Netherlands in general) been affected much in previous years? I haven't really paid attention to what measures and restrictions other countries were bringing in.

 

[Perris]

You make me wonder how these hotdogs entered your kitchen/stock

Lidl do foreign foodstuffs regularly, shipping in all sorts of (to us) interesting looking products that we don't normally see and are willing to give them a go (or so we think while in the shop; the back of the cupboard destiny tells a different story once they're here ). I am as liable to fall victim to marketing tactics as anyone else.

Sometimes they are reasonably wholesome as well as genuine products which are not easily available here, like Italian Amarena cherries in syrup (which were also languishing at the back of the cupboard, but not too old to use, so I made them into a quite nice cherry and almond clafoutis), and, coming back to your question, we've all had a bit of a soft spot for currywurst since visiting Berlin. So a jar of genuine German hotdogs in brine was tempting; I just never worked up the enthusiasm to make the curry sauce, despite doing the research for it. Foods and places go together, and the foods on their own don't travel so well I've found.

 

[BDutch]

That time of year...

Have you (you personally, or "backyard" poultry keepers in the Netherlands in general) been affected much in previous years? I haven't really paid attention to what measures and restrictions other countries were bringing in.

Yeah, it always comes in autumn and leaves in spring.
The first year we had this highly pathogenic avian flu, the government was very strict for backyard (hobby) chickens too. Lobbyist convinced this was in nobody’s interest and know we are only obliged to fence of the area where the chickens range.

Im very pi….d with large scale factory farmers who are the cause this came into our world, and who also refuse to vaccinate their chickens to end this misery.
I don’t want to keep my chickens inside the run for that reason. If someone is telling the police Im an offender when we are restricted, I risk a €800 fine. But they probably give a warning first. There are no farms near to where I live, which makes this easier.

Imho its not healthy for my chickens to lock them up in the run whole winter. Free ranging keeps them healthy and less vulnerable for diseases. Unfortunately its impossible to find info about infected backyard flocks that didn’t get culled. I would like to know if and how many would survive this highly pathogenic avian flu.

 

[kattabelly]

Im very pi….d with large scale factory farmers who are the cause this came into our world, and who also refuse to vaccinate their chickens to end this misery.

Vaccination isn't an option here, other than for birds being kept in zoos in some parts of the UK. I believe our government published a report a few months ago which recommended possibly running a trial on turkeys.

As I understand it though, the vaccines currently available only reduce rates of infection and transmission and the severity of the disease - so even in a best case scenario where vaccines were widely available and used, it would still be an issue, similar to how covid is now.

 

[BDutch]

As I understand it though, the vaccines currently available only reduce rates of infection and transmission and the severity of the disease - so even in a best case scenario where vaccines were widely available and used, it would still be an issue, similar to how covid is now.

You are probably right about the effectiveness of the vaccine’s. What pi..d me off were the factory farmers who didn’t care about the welfare of the chickens and only had no interest bc they couldn’t export the meat and eggs to elsewhere after vaccinating.

 

[Perris]

You are probably right about the effectiveness of the vaccine’s. What pi..d me off were the factory farmers who didn’t care about the welfare of the chickens and only had no interest bc they couldn’t export the meat and eggs to elsewhere after vaccinating.

It is usually a failure to implement properly whatever hygiene measures have been advised that leads to the virus gaining entry to a commercial premises, typically on the footwear, clothing, vehicles, crates and other things that pass from the outside world into the unit. A breeder unit should be especially well run, since its occupants are usually very valuable. If it's any consolation to you, the farmers in question are probably kicking themselves for the loss of their flock.