The birds will remain at the centre until spring when they will be ready to be rehomed. It is standard farming practice for male chicks to be killed soon after hatching. RSPCA Assured, the charity's farm animal welfare assurance scheme, said they were an "unwanted by-product of egg production", with the majority being killed using an inert gas. Lindsay Newell, founder of Linjoy Wildlife Sanctuary in Etwall, Derbyshire, said the killed birds had been bought by a woman in Loughborough from an unnamed firm.
Ten chicks were found alive but two later died. She estimates the chicks were less than a day old when they arrived. Ms Newell said hatcheries should be checking the chicks are dead before sending them off as animal feed. She has advised the buyer to report the firm she bought them from to trading standards for poor practice.
There has been an unexplained spike in deaths in Germany's blue tit bird population. One NGO is now advising "social distancing" for birds. An unknown contagious disease is affecting Germany's blue tit bird population, said conservation non-governmental organization NABU. It received over 11, reports from the public of sick or dead birds between April 9 and April The Eurasian blue tit is a small bird native to Europe.
It is around 12 cm 4. Particularly hard-hit are blue tits in the lower Mosel wine region and the region around the city of Oldenburg, in Lower Saxony. The disease appears to mainly affect blue tits, but the great tit and other small song birds are sometimes infected.
Read more: Angry mob attacks men for killing an endangered bird in Germany. NABU is not sure what is causing the blue tit deaths. It appears the disease is transmitted where birds congregate — sick birds are often found on the ground near to bird feeders. Some birds appeared to be experiencing breathing difficulties, said NABU. Some of the characteristics of the disease match a bacterial infection that affected the lungs of tit populations in the UK, said NABU.
Since , this bacterial infection has also been found in limited numbers in Germany. NABU has ruled out other illnesses because this one has appeared at a different time of year and it targets a different bird species.
The Usutu virus is prevalent in summer and affects black birds. As per veterinary experts, Suttonella ornithocola usually triggers pneumonia in birds, especially blue tits. Birds infected with this bacteria will face severe breathing troubles, and they will also turn lethargic with fluffed-up plumage. It was observed that blue tits that died shortly afterward sat apathetically and fluffed up on the floor and made no attempt to escape when approaching people.
Other symptoms of the disease are that the birds appear as if they have breathing problems, parts of the head plumage have failed, the eyes appear stuck together.
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