Define "isolation"

[David Swain]

So I guess the thousands of birds which flew from France yesterday are now safely tucked up in isolation. Does that literally mean they are in their own little loft/crate for the next week with no contact with any of their loftmates ? Is that what DEFRA expects ? Perhaps someone could tell us.  

[Guest shadow]

To the letter of the law YES that is what DEFRA expects, but no one can police apart from checking the following weeks race sheets to see if the pigeons flew the week before (club racing )

[pender]

easy to police if they want, all they have to do is go to org, get race sheets of all members that ent, and do 2 or 3 visits without telling member wen they coming. but i dont think they that bothered.

[David Swain]

But if they are that bothered (and any farmer will tell you that DEFRA are pretty hot on other regulations regarding animal movement) it could only take one fancier breaking the ban and racing from overseas could be stopped.

Just one other point - if you stick to the rules and get beaten into second place by a bird you know went across the water the previous week, are you going to object ?

[rlez]

you could delay marking your birds say 24hrs next week to beat the the 7day rule.

i.e.birds that came home from france on saturday say 1pm could be sent the next weekend if you delay basketing from friday till sat evening for an inland race that way the birds have been in the loft for severn days

[Henrik]

Wont be just racing from overseas that is stopped if someone breaks the rules all racing could be stopped,as for the question if you are beaten by a bird you know was over the previous week well you do object and the fancier concerned should be banned as he aint only jeapordising his sport but that of the whole country. All club Sec should be checking the race sheets now every week.

[Henrik]

This 7 day isolation

 

We have taken many calls and e mails about the licence condition regarding the 7 day isolation period.  The licence condition is simple.  If you race from the continent then any bird arriving back at the loft within 48 hours of the release must be isolated for a minimum of 7 days from return to the loft, not 7 days from the basketing.  This period increases to a minimum of 3 weeks if the pigeon is delayed beyond the 48 hours from release.  So, in a nutshell, at the very least, you cannot race the same bird the following week if you have raced from the continent.  As has been remarked it is down to the individual to be honest and above board on this and club officials should not be put in the position of having to accept birds otherwise.  DEFRA has advised that if there is any breach of the licence conditions, by individuals or organisations, they would invoke the enforcement provisions of section 75 of the Animal Health Act 1981. This means that on conviction, the punishment for each offence would be either a fine of up to £5,000 or imprisonment for up to three months.  Nuff said!

 

[Guest]

Timely reminder of penalties, Henrik.  

 

Honesty doesn't come in to it. Remember that race sheets are retained, simple matter for DEFRA or its agents to cross-check entries.

 

Still think these conditions are an imposition - they are impractical - we really need counter-proposals or these arrangements will become the norm year-on-year...

 

 

[PIGEON_MAN]

SURELY THERE IS NO ONE THAT CAN COMPLY WITH THIS RULING ANYWAY,IT SAYS THAT THE BIRDS HAVE TO BE ISOLATED SO UNLESS ALL THE PEOPLE WHO RACE OVER THE CHANNEL HAVE PURPOSE BUILT BOXES READY HOW ARE THEY GOING TO ISOLATE THEM FROM THEIR OTHER PIGEONS.LETS HOPE THAT DEFRA DONT SUDDENLY VISIT SOMEONE WHO AS RACED OVER THE CHANNELL AND THE BIRDS THEY RACED ARE STILL IN THE LOFT WITH THE REST.

[Henrik]

The post I put up is the latest from Peter Bryant and will be in BHW View From the Reddings this week

[pender]

if i got beat up here with a bird that had flown the channel week before i would shake the mans hand because it would be pretty good bird to do that up here lol

[REDCHEQHEN]

This period increases to a minimum of 3 weeks if the pigeon is delayed beyond the 48 hours from release.

 

 

These rules applied for inland racing aswell, we built four boxes especially for this in the shed long before the racing season started - and many people do comply with regulations - lead by example eh ?

[THE FIFER]

IT'S LOOKING LIKE THERE WILL BE NO RACING OUTSIDE THE UK ONCE MORE AFTER 31ST JULY, ACCORDING TO PETER BRYANTS REPORT TODAY,

[Guest]

This period increases to a minimum of 3 weeks if the pigeon is delayed beyond the 48 hours from release.

 

 

These rules applied for inland racing aswell, we built four boxes especially for this in the shed long before the racing season started - and many people do comply with regulations - lead by example eh ?

 

 

With respect, you are talking about two different things:

 

(1) If an inland bird is more than two days late from the race, its to be isolated....

 

(2) A channel pigeon flying for say 3/4 hours into the South Coast goes straight into isolation for a week.

 

Most people should be set-up for isolating a late pigeon ... I'd say most people would do that anyway [pop a bird into a spare box just to make sure its hasn't picked something up] but no-one is set-up to isolate a team of say 30/40 pigeons in individual boxes after arriving from a 'short' race.

 

The isolation periods are strange too. The last we have on infectious periods for AI laboratory-infected pigeons are 10 days, with the bird being 'infectious' for only 2 days in that 10 day period. Bearing in mind that David Swayne induced infection through giving the pigeons massive doses of the virus which couldn't be found in the wild, and even in the infectious state, the pigeons weren't infectious enough to pass on the virus to chickens penned in the same box!!!!!