Krill Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 My friend who keeps several free range chicken visited the Mairie on Friday and was told that everyone will have a visit from their rep to see if they keep birds and to advise on procedure but basically it seems that all domestic birds must be kept indoors and if they have runs they must be bird proof even down to sparrow size with solid roofs so wild birds cant poo into the run, also if you want to buy or sell a bird it has to have a visit to the vet but we dont think this applies to birds already kept, this is for all birds, even pigeons and cage birds, this is in dept 86, dont know about any other areas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris pp Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 The situation is exactly as you have put it Krill and applies to the entire Country, no exceptions.In addition there must be no transportation of live poultry or domestic birds. Anyone found to be breaking these regulations can be fined and have their "birds" culled and removed from their premises.Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeb Posted February 26, 2006 Share Posted February 26, 2006 We've just spent a couple of hours clearing and sectioning off part of our barn for our 4 hens. They are in there now, looking quite unhappy but I'm sure they will settle in nicely soon.We put in nesting boxes and constructed 2 perches out of old fence posts nailed to big blocks of wood. There is no natural daylight unless I leave the door open so will have to fix a panel somehow across the doorway this afternoon.Our problem now is getting straw so will have to go hunting for some small bales. I think we are in for a long haul with this, don't you Chris? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Went down the lane to visit an elderly couple yesterday here in 29. They have tame pigeons and doves amongst other birds who roam the garden normally and feed from their hands but they had been told by family and neighbours as well as hearing it on the TV and reading the papers, to keep them caged indefinately now with covering over the roof mesh to stop any wild birds dropping faeces through. Basically the whole country is the same - confine your birds and cover the mesh. Feed and bedding too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Our neighbour was told by her dad, who's a gendarme, that the fine for non-compliance is 750 euros so it's worth spending the time making your chicken runs wild-bird-proof, if for no other reason than the financial one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 And there's no snitch like a french snitch either............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieR Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Does this mean that this applies to my chickens in the Creuse??? Dept 23Should I go to the Mairie to check procedure?They have a secure house with a roof but only usually sleep there and I let them roam in the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 I think it means EVERYBODY .........needs to have their birds under cover at all times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viv Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 750 euros does not seem much given the scale of the threat.I just hope its not some British Tom and Barbara Good types, that are ignorant of the laws that get the first ones [:@] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JulieR Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Chickens now 'locked' away in their house and I will keep them in until I check with the Mairie tomorrow.Cheers for adviceJulie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duckalaronze Posted February 27, 2006 Share Posted February 27, 2006 Interesting to note that in Fridays la Montagne they are advertising a poultry market in Bourganeuf. Today the gendarmes drove very slowly through our hamlet - obviously checking for free-range chickens yet next door to the gendarmerie in Pontarion are some chickens blatantly free-ranging!Our neighbours have no intention of confining their birds while ours are incarcerated in the barn (with cabbages on strings to keep them amused). Funnily enough, ours are still laying while our neighbours are not!Gill & Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coco Posted February 28, 2006 Share Posted February 28, 2006 [quote user="viva"]750 euros does not seem much given the scale of the threat.[/quote]I quite agree, but our neighbours, firstly being French and secondly being NORMAN (worse reputation in France than a Yorkshireman in England I believe[;)]) think it's absolutely astronomical!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoverfrog Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 I went to our mairie on Tuesday, and was told that there was not anything I had to do about my 4 chickens as they had not received any instructions from the prefecture.I tend to think that they are wrong, as from the news it looks like they should be confined, however there are chickens roaming free all over the place round here!The vet told my neighbour not to buy any chickens until after the end of March, as by then the migratory birds would have been and gone, but this was advice and not a regulation.We're in 87, BTW.hoverfrog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 It is now absolutely compulsory in our d'agglo for every owner of poultry, ornamental or domestic birds to register them with their local mairie. This has been printed in the local paper all week and incurrs a heavy fine if owners do not comply and with the confiement restrictions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 Yes, the maire came round yesterday with the forms so we registered out two chickens - all birds, including pigeons etc have to be declared. Oddly enough you have a choice on the form about whether they are totally enclosed, under cover or free to roam. We have given ours a plastic cover over the run of their eglu, and keep them in, which seems to comply with the rules, at least as far as the maire and the vets are concerned. There are still plenty of people with chickens outside or without covers on the runs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 When I first visited France about 15 years ago we thought the French habit of Paris issuing edicts and the rural community largely ignoring them, was charming. Now I'm not so sure ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceni Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 An edict from our maire + a form have arrived. We do not have anywhere under cover that would be suitable for our 4 birds so, unless they can find board and lodging with a neighbour, it will be neck stretching time. Only 1 is laying at the moment so I should have done this anyway.Johnnot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoverfrog Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 I'm still unsure of my legal obligations. I can understand the need to confine one's poultry before the migratory birds come over, but what I see on the news conflicts with what I've been told at the mairie.At the end of the day, who's in control? Are we under the supposedly coutrywide edict of confining 'volaille' or do we listen to the mairie?If it comes to confining cats and dogs then I'm really in the merde... in the meantime I would like to do what I have to do, but would like the authorities to agree on what that is!Yes, if it was easy I would have already confined my paultry 4 poultry (sorry for that! Couldn't help myself) but in practice it's not that easy.In the local 'newspaper' this week some of the neighbouring communes are taking the threat seriously, with compulsory registration at the mairie, but ours is somewhat backward.Oh, and as for the cheap BOGOF offers, there aren't any round here :( It's still expensive :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoverfrog Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 interesting that the 'PC" police have turned m-e-r-d-e into *** - must be bi-lingual PC-police!I won't be stretching the necks of my birds, but I might forget to shut them in at night...Lucky I've already cleared it with the neighbour that he'll kill any rabbits we beed for eating, and if I protect my new trees he can graze his sheep in our 'chicken yard'!hoverfrog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony F Dordogne Posted March 5, 2006 Share Posted March 5, 2006 Our closest neighbours are allowing their free rangers to range freely as they usually do, all over the chemin rurals. Nothing about confining them on the noticeboards in our little commune.I'm told one problem for the neighbours is that neither of them have tvs nor, in one case, a radio, so she may not even know there are any issues about avian flu.We've put getting chickens on hold again, wait for all this to blow over first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 Have at last received a letter etc. from the Maire - delivered by handand strict order to get them enclosed. Can someone translate thisplease: "Confinement - regle generale _ maintien des animaux al'interior de batiments fermes. Si non praticable, maitrise du risquepar des modalites particulaires d'alimentation, d'abreuvement et deprotection des contacts avec les oiseaux sauvages + realisation d'unevisite veterinaire" ( before the 15th march). Does this mean thatthey can still free-range if the vet says so? Seems similar to Will theconq's instructions. Also" Utilisation des eaux de surface pour lenettoyage des batiments et des materiels l'abreuvement des animaux"forbidden. Is this the same as others have received? There is more toit than this but can understand the rest. There seems to be no specificmention of roofing. Have been dreading this as we have 40-50 birds andsome are real escape artists. All I can see it achieving is the fasterspread of other infections etc within the confined area. Pat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 Well it does say that they are supposed to be kept in an enclosed building and I would say that meant that it had to have a roof on it. I think the rest says that if they are outside then it is your responsibilty to keep their food and water well away from the risque of contamination by wild birds and that a vet would have to see them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tay Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 We have also received a letter and form to complete, but am unable to answer one question as I can't find anything in my dictionary for the word appelant. The question is 'les oiseaux ci-dessus declares sont-ils utilises comme appelants'? Could somebody please tell me what this means? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debra Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 I believe its "appellant" - isn't that a captive live bird that is used to call/attract other birds when hunting? (read this recently by Chris pp, I believe, when discussing bird flu but can't find the post now!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted March 7, 2006 Share Posted March 7, 2006 If by chance a word I don't know isn't in my dictonary, I have this on line dictionary on my puter and usually words are on there.http://dictionnaire.tv5.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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