Flocks back ranging after AI shut-in
Free range flocks caught up in the restrictions surrounding the avian influenza outbreak in Suffolk are back outside following a housing order that lasted less than four weeks.
The go-ahead came at the beginning of this month when Defra announced a relaxing of restrictions in the 3km Protection Zone, which was merged into the wider Surveillance Zone, leading to a lifting of the order to house birds in all the affected zones.
The testing of 148 poultry premises—including those with ducks and geese—by Defra officials failed to reveal any presence of the H5N1 virus. Similar tests carried out on 64 dead wild birds found within the zones and testing of faecal samples from around the infected Bernard Matthews plant also proved negative.
Producers whose birds were locked-up during the restrictions were advised to reintroduce access to the range on a gradual basis. This follows experience on some farms last year which had to house birds following the discovery of the H5N1 virus in a dead swan in Cellardyke harbour in Fife.
When the popholes were suddenly re-opened some flocks experienced problems with feather pecking and even cannibalism. The advice this time around was to treat flocks as pullets and introduce a short training period, involving a phased opening of the popholes rather than opening the whole lot in one go.
Egg marketing inspectors covering the affected zones were briefed and were satisfied with this arrangement providing the birds had at least some access to range once the housing order was lifted. Experience in Fife showed that flocks were back ranging normally with no signs of behavioural problems after four to five days.
Producer Philip Vincent's 12,000 bird flock was 51 weeks old and ranging well when the shut in order came in early February. The birds were agitated when confined to the house and Philip reports it took several weeks for them to settle down. They are now getting used to going back outside again.
"We began by opening some of the popholes in the late afternoon and then gradually pulled the opening time forward. After a week we had all the popholes open once again by 9.00am," he told the Ranger.
While access to the range may be back to what it was before the outbreak, the birds' ranging habit is not.
"They haven't poured out and covered the range like they used to—that's going to take a few weeks longer," says Philip.
Careful management of the flock when housed meant no increased mortality but Philip estimates production dropped by around two per cent.
"If that's the only cost to the business then I think we've got off lightly," he says. "Things could have been much worse if the virus had spread to other farms and Defra deserves credit for the way in which it quickly brought the outbreak under control.
