Officials working in Xunta de Galicia’s rural offices have found themselves facing a strange extra workload in recent weeks. It is unique in terms of its volume. And it is strange, above all, because of its purpose. What those who go to regional delegations with forms under their arms or send requests directly on the Internet are doing is legalizing their chicken.

That’s right: Remove the roosters, pittas, turkeys, geese, pigeons and other fowl that peck at their farms from the administrative destitution they’ve been in for decades, and officially register their pens. That means being able to keep them for the future… and a pretty big fine.

About 40,000 of them have now been legalized.

paper chickens. This is what many Galicians demand in Xunta’s offices. They want to register their home pens with a few, at most a few dozen hens or hens, so that they officially appear as “self-consumption farms” in the eyes of the state.

Wednesday Voice of Galicia He spoke of an “avalanche of demands” being made to the regional government by neighbors arriving in person with a form under their arm or by sending it online. The regional newspaper even claims that some offices have officials devoted almost exclusively to that peculiar task: legalizing the stockyards.

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But… Are there that many? They have now inherited According to data provided by Medio Rural, there are almost 40,700 chicken coops. And these are all self-consumption items, whose owners decided to register them since mandatory registration was established according to the central government measure that came into force in 2021. If you take into account a few months ago, the figure is not bad at all. In November, there were only 16,600 native corrals in Xunta, and at the beginning of March there were about 35,100, the bulk of which were scattered throughout the province of A Coruña.

It may seem like a lot, but the data isn’t surprising considering how common these home farms with a few chickens are in society.

Legalization with assistance. Another indication that Galicians are starting to register their pita, chicken and goose is that there are pet stores that dedicate themselves to managing the management of their elderly customers.

They note that among these there are people who cannot easily perform online procedures. They submit the necessary data to the trusted shop that handles all Xunta-related paperwork, and then stop by the business to collect documentation for their pen that allows them to continue dedicating themselves to breeding.

And because? Because management tells them so. As Xunta states on its official website, poultry pens intended for family self-consumption must be registered. The organization even specifies what falls under this “self-consumption” label: a small farm with a few dozen chickens, turkeys, ducks, guinea fowl, geese, quail, partridges, pheasants or pigeons.

To be precise, the Xunta de Galicia mentions a maximum of 30 laying hens, 50 broiler hens, or their equivalents in other species. In order to have the “self-consumption” label, the meat, eggs and other products they produce must not be commercialized. Otherwise, in the eyes of the administration, they would fall into a different category: “Reducing exploitation.”

Purpose: more control. This is also clarified by Xunta. No other additional requirements are required for domestic items. They just need to be properly registered. The administration, led by Alfonso Rueda, adds that this is also the case to ensure that health authorities are aware of the existence of these people and their whereabouts. They clarify “information required in cases where there are health risks due to avian diseases where control by the competent authority is required.” The central government also gives the same message.

“These farms do not need to fulfill any extra requirements other than being registered,” the manager said, and continued: “The only purpose is to have information about their existence and location by the competent authority in animal health matters, the necessary information in cases of risk.” “Due to bird diseases that need to be controlled by the competent authority”.

It’s a matter of law… The initiative is actually based on three legs of comprehensive legislation, all state laws: the 2003 Animal Health Act, a 2006 order setting out measures against bird flu, and the 2021 Royal Decree, which sets standards. By “exploitation of self-consumption” it is meant and, among other things, clarifies that all farms must designate a reference veterinarian for emergencies.

…And the consequences. Ignoring the rule has consequences. The first is that pens that are not on the management’s radar will not last long. Without registration, there will be no new hens, hens or other birds to keep the home farm active. When a family wants to purchase them from a store, they will need to present the redemption code assigned when registering the chicken coop. If you do not have this, it will not be easy for you to buy a doll.

But there is an even greater motivation to do so: It states that the sanctions that those who do not comply with the law may face range from 600 to 3,000 euros. Voice of GaliciaIt is reminded that the decree refers to the Animal Health Law. This perspective has caused concern in more than one household, the newspaper notes. The owner of a business selling chicken in Santa Comba municipality told the newspaper, “There is fear and panic among the people. Chicken sales have dropped by 70 percent.”

Chickens and more. Norm keeps his focus on the stockyards, but the consequences are felt beyond the community’s chicken coops. In some offices responsible for processing records, this has resulted in significant extra workload as staff are essentially dedicated to this task.

The situation is completely different in pet stores, where a decrease in sales is noticed at a time of the year when people usually buy new chickens. “I think people will stop keeping chickens,” admits a neighbor from Abadín, who has already registered his pen, but admits he has doubts about the real benefit of the measure: “I don’t know what this will be for.”

The initiative even has a political orientation. Galicia’s agricultural warehouses, which have formed a new association called Atiga, are demanding clarity from the administration on the rule, asking for an end to the uncertainty around poultry duels and to clarify whether inspections will be carried out to control them in the future. Its purpose: “To eliminate people’s fear.” In the political field, Xunta also submitted dozens of claims to the decree proposed by the Ministry of Agriculture. SoundThe autonomous body found that they were all rejected.

Image | Nighthawk Strikes (Unsplash)

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