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.

 

[ChickenshedStudio]

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

Indeed! And then of course there's the great unknown of unreported birds...

 

[Perris]

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

The methodology followed is given here, section 14
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...-influenza-in-wild-birds-in-england-and-wales
I have yet to find relevant statistics of negative test results.

 

[kattabelly]

The methodology followed is given here, section 14
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...-influenza-in-wild-birds-in-england-and-wales
I have yet to find relevant statistics of negative test results.

I can see the collection thresholds and that they say they won't collect any birds more than four days after the date they were reported.

I wonder how many birds aren't collected because e.g. they just didn't have anyone available to get to a specific location within four days of the report being received.

 

[Perris]

I can see the collection thresholds and that they say they won't collect any birds more than four days after the date they were reported.

I wonder how many birds aren't collected because e.g. they just didn't have anyone available to get to a specific location within four days of the report being received.

I think that, along with those that die out of anyone's sight as ChickeshedStudio pointed out, is unknowable.

But the APHA is identifying raptors as a useful proxy: "Also of note is the increase in the percentage of cases in raptors at almost 25% in February in Great Britain (Table 1). Raptors, being scavengers of wild bird carcasses, are good sentinels of infection in wild birds, and typically increase in percentage terms at the end of an outbreak as they search out the remaining infected wild bird carcases." (from the HPAI in Europe doc cited earlier)

 

[kattabelly]

I think that, along with those that die out of anyone's sight as ChickeshedStudio pointed out, is unknowable.

They must know how many reports they're receiving. They might not be publishing it but I'd be surprised they aren't keeping any kind of record of what happens to those reports.