Should I house my free range birds?

There appears to be conflicting advice as to whether free range flocks should currently be housed. The present situation is that only poultry keepers whose premises are located within either the Protection Zone; the Surveillance Zone; or the Restricted Zone surrounding the Suffolk outbreak have been instructed by Defra to house flocks wherever possible. There are no similar instructions to poultry keepers located elsewhere in the UK.

If this situation changes, Defra will alert those poultry keepers affected (assuming they are registered with the National Poultry Register) in the first instance via mobile phone text. Any changes regarding the housing of free range birds will also be posted on the BFREPA website.

Meanwhile it goes without saying that strict bio-security measures should remain in place on all poultry farms and particular attention paid to minimizing contact between free range poultry and wild birds.

For biosecurity advice click here