Treacodactyl
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Fallen stockSad news I'm afraid, my namesake Treacle the hen passed away at the weekend. In typical fashion she didn't go quietly but with a few moments of extreme flapping then she fell over and died as I tried to help her out of the ark. Sorry if I sound a bit soppy but she, and the other two, have become pets rather than live stock.
Anyway, she was fine up to the moment she popped her clogs and the other two are fine so no need to worry about the dreaded 'flu. (Why does everyone think it's 'flu when chickens have been dying before it?). I performed my first post mortem, using an old article in Country Smallholding for reference, to try and find out what was wrong. Rather a steep learning curve but at least I know where most things are, well just about. Couldn't find much wrong other than a large amount of fat inside the abdomen along with several unformed eggs. As she hadn't laid for many weeks I assume it was either egg peritonitis or just a heart attack.
After tons of research and phone calls by Bugs (more to follow on this) I took Treacle to a local vet to have her cremated as this is one of the methods the the law now insists, not that any of the government bods Bugs contacted seemed know about the law. So now£2 and a few tears later we are now without Treacle, I'll miss the daft old bird.
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saffranne
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really sorry to hear about treacle,all mine 63 of the little horrors are part of the family along with eight cats and three dogs,its really awful when they go,i lost one of my silkies georgina a while back she would have been 1yr old yesterday and we still talk about her and others that we have lost,but she has had a happy life with you and you can look back on that and remember her that way
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nettie
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Awwww poor old Treacle. Never nice to lose one  I'm sure I'm not alone in awaiting, with bated breath, an expose on all the idiosyncracies of fallen stock disposal in this country, it should be interesting!!!!
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sally_in_wales
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how sad, always upsetting when a little friend shuffles off its mortal perch, especially when they havent been visibly ailing 
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Cathryn
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What a shame I always try to be pragmatic (try )
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Lozzie
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mochyn
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I thought it was still ok to bury poultry?
Aside from that, sorry to hear your sad news. If I remember, she was a good-looking old bird. Bit like me...
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judith
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End of an era
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Anna-marie
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Sorry to hear about Treacle. I'm sure that she had a very happy life with you.
At least you didn't cut her open and prod about with her bits while she was still alive! 
I agree with Mochyn. Isn't it only "big" livestock that needs to be collected?
If Treacle was a pet, then you should have been able to bury her.
DEFRA still allows pet sheep, goats, horses, etc to be buried on the owner's land, I believe.
Anna-marie
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Bugs
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I will write up the details later - which is more than anyone who says we have to abide by this law has deigned to bother doing - when I have stopped fuming enough to formulate a sentence without swearing in it.
But in short, no, *legally* you may not bury chickens, full stop. Or any other livestock, pet or not, commerical or not.
On a backyard flock basis it would seem that the most appropriate method is to speak to your local vet, who should have "a clinical waste licence" and be able to send the bird for incineration (sorry, "cremation" ). This was supposed to cost us £6-ish, "the same as for a rabbit" but when TD took her in they said it would be only £2.
Oh, and that little bit of information took me 14 phone calls and telling three who are supposed to tell *me* what to do what the law at the moment actually is.
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Alchemist
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Sorry to hear about Treacle TD. A real shame.
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dpack
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sad day
berevement and beaurocraps dont mix .
sky burial or composting is natural .
henny penny changed colour and shape over many years so here's to treacle and treacle2 and tre....etc .
:arrow:
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Treacodactyl
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Thanks for all the comments they are much appreciated. We'll not get any more livestock until we move but we'll get plenty then.
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bernie-woman
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Sorry to hear the sad news
Remember that you gave her the best life she could have ever had 
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glenwine
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Perhaps if you had cooked Treacle first you could have saved £2. I dont mean this in an unkind way, or mean that you should have eaten her,and I am likewise always very sad at the loss of any of my animals, but I had roast chicken for Sunday lunch last week and I didnt have to take it to the vet for disposal. In fact it made good stock for soup and the bones went in the bin. Do ye ken what I mean.
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Treacodactyl
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| glenwine wrote: | | Perhaps if you had cooked Treacle first you could have saved £2. I dont mean this in an unkind way |
I agree with what you say and as far as I can understand the daft law I could have simply binned her or buried her if had the intention of eating her and not actually doing so. Putting the daft law to one side I wouldn't have eaten her though, not just because she's a pet but because I didn't know why she died.
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Northern_Lad
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| Treacodactyl wrote: | | glenwine wrote: | | Perhaps if you had cooked Treacle first you could have saved £2. I dont mean this in an unkind way |
...I wouldn't have eaten her though, not just because she's a pet but because I didn't know why she died. |
...and also because you'd still be eating her now - she was huge!
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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ooh, sorry about poor old Treacle. How old was she?
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Treacodactyl
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She was a little over 5, middle aged but she's always been prone to the odd problem.
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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can elderly chickens have heart problems?
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Beckyess
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Sorry to hear about Treacle. I wouldn't eat an animal that I didn't know how it had died either.
Becky
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Anna-marie
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Bugs,
I'm sorry to hear that you had so many problems, trying to find out what to do with Treacle.
I hope that it's not me that you are fuming at, and want to swear at - just because I was wrong (again  ).
Well, go on then, you can. 
Anna-marie
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Treacodactyl
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Don't worry Anne-Marie, it's just the various government bods she's fuming at. The one's who's job it is to know what people should do rather than ask us what their laws are.  What's the point of introducing new laws when hardly anyone knows about them?
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Mrs Fiddlesticks
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our local poultry man who will do the kind thing if a chicken is ailing and needs help to the ultimate free range, will keep the body. He has a freezer for them and when full he can call on someone to come and take the lot for proper disposal. I didn't ask what that was - I assume its something council/farmer bulk disposal thing.
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Bugs
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| Anna-marie wrote: | | I hope that it's not me that you are fuming at, and want to swear at - just because I was wrong (again ). |
 Oh no, I hope it didn't sound like that; not aimed at you at all but as TD says at the idiots who say that you must abide by something, and then refuse to tell you how, or even admit that they know you should - still, we'll no doubt come across ten times worse in the future so it's all experience isn't it
I just hoped that the experience would be useful to other people here. Searching on the internet all I could find on likely sites for small scale poultry keepers was skirting round the issue and people making nudging remarks like "the fox gets all mine before they die luckily" or even talking about how to pretend you don't have as many birds as people think so you have room for fiddling the numbers if anyone enquires. I don't blame them at all, because doing it right is made so difficult, but I am annoyed that even when you try to find out it is made nearly impossible. It's like the locked filing cabinet in the basement with the sign "beware of the leopard".
I wonder what the rules are on burying leopards.
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Penny Outskirts
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| Bugs wrote: | | I wonder what the rules are on burying leopards. |
They're probably hidden at the bottom of a hen house 
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Anna-marie
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Bugs,
I think that the way that DEFRA is imposing so many restrictions and "procedures" on smallholders and farmers alike is encouraging people to be rather underhand, not declaring newborn fallen stock, and movements, etc.
But can you blame them, really?
I live in an area where yearly TB testing for cattle is required. If, however, I decide even seven weeks later, to move my cattle to newly-rented accommodation, or send them to market, I would need to have them re-tested!! (TB tests must have taken place within the previous six weeks)
Is it any wonder, then, that I might move them to other land, and just not declare it? (Theoretically, of course )
To my mind, this seemingly senseless directive will make it even harder to trace the route and source of any disease!!! 
Anyway, I'm so glad that you're not mad at me. We'll just be mad at them together, shall we?  
Anna-marie
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