[The Chicken Lady]

I am not a comercial keeper - just a very enthusiastic hobbiest. I now have 46 chickens, with 18 eggs either in the incubator or under broodies - 14 of which seem to be doing well, it will take me over the magical 50. I have printed the 17 page registration form off the DEFRA website but just wonder if this is worth doing or is it going to bring lots of trouble.  :?

[richyrich7]

Well I did wonder myself but only having three    but seriously from reading PP forums as soon as your registered you are then subject to defra's regulation and fines
but thats only what I've read on there. Personally don' t know if I'd bother, but are you breaking the law if you don't. I think grannieannie keeps quite a few She may know, and Muntjac's got hundreds but he's not about at the mo.

[babe]

hi, i only have a few chooks, but as i have a goat and a few sheep i am defra registered. i have a seperate number for the chooks although its not law, but it means that should anything happen in my area such as bird flu i will be informed of any action i should take to protect my birds.

ive never had any problems wih defra and always found them to be helpful and i like knowing that they are there, the 5 freedoms are there to protect the animals, something that i think should apply to domestic animals too to prevent alot of cruelty that is about.

sorry for rambling, just thought id offer my view in case its any help.

[GrannieAnnie]

Hi Chicken lady, we are registered with DEFRA, but you only have to register once you have more than 50 chickens, but registering isn't something to worry about.  We have a holding number too, and flock and herd numbers because we used to keep a couple of goats as well.  At the moment we just have the 64 chickens.  

But there is a wealth of information on the DEFRA site, which you can look at whether you are registered or not, and no, it won't bring you any trouble.  As Happy Valley says,the DEFRA people are really helpful, and you only start to moan abut the rules and regulations when you are a commercial outfit!!!!!

We are registered on the UK Poultry Register, so that if there is an outbreak of avian flu, DEFRA know to contact us and let us know what action to take.

[The Chicken Lady]

Thanks for the advice, I will start filling in the forms :roll:

[GrannieAnnie]

Good luck CL!!!!