UK Members Please Say HI

[BlueTheBrahma]

Hi, I’m wondering if people have a recommendation for a good chicken breeder for BCM hatching eggs UK for the darkest egg strain possible! Thanks!

Tom Wales (Thackwood Pouktry), Herber Hargreaves (Greenfield Marans), Steve Wright (Temple Marans of Bodmin Moor).

Some names I’ve got or seen class stock from. All on Facebook. I have marans eggs available for a week, but not coppers. Will have young ones ready from dark egg lines in a month or so.

 

[Pebbles25]

Thank you!

 

[Perris]

Some here may be interested in these tables, which summarize avian flu cases in wild birds and other wildlife in Britain through winter 2025-6.

Note that NO garden birds, song birds etc. were recorded (typical garden residents like sparrows and blackbirds are not a threat to the health of your chickens; it's waterfowl and shorebirds we need to avoid; raptors get it from eating sick or dead HPAI infected birds) and that the handful of mammal species that have caught it probably got it from infected waterfowl.

Sources: https://assets.publishing.service.g...e02b81c0d1c756f/HPAI_Europe_10_March_2026.pdf and
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...fluenza-of-avian-origin-in-non-avian-wildlife

 

[ChickenshedStudio]

Some here may be interested in these tables, which summarize avian flu cases in wild birds and other wildlife in Britain through winter 2025-6.

Note that NO garden birds, song birds etc. were recorded (typical garden residents like sparrows and blackbirds are not a threat to the health of your chickens; it's waterfowl and shorebirds we need to avoid; raptors get it from eating sick or dead HPAI infected birds) and that the handful of mammal species that have caught it probably got it from infected waterfowl.

These are really very helpful, thanks @Perris!
It's so interesting to see that distribution - the table slightly obscures the extent of the part waterfowl play by separating geese/ducks/swans into residents and migrants, but my rough mental arithmetic suggests each month they accounted for 80% of cases, which is a huge proportion.

It certainly reassures me for our chickens here - we do have game and pigeons on the plot, and we have gulls/raptors flying overhead but rarely landing. Waterfowl are blessedly absent except for the odd lost goose.
I'll stop worrying about the robins who try to steal the chickens' breakfast!!

 

[kattabelly]

I'd be interested to know how many reported dead birds either aren't collected, or are collected and test negative for HPAI.