Nov 29th, 2021
2 mins
New housing measures to protect poultry and captive birds from avian influenza across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland came into force from 00:01 on Monday 29th November.
This means it is now a legal requirement for all bird keepers to keep their birds indoors and to follow strict biosecurity measures in order to limit the spread and to eradicate the disease.
BFFF will be keeping a close watch on the situation and will keep members updated. If the housing order continues for several weeks this could also impact on the Free Range market, as we saw in the winter of 2017. Legally, product labelled as Free Range must be Free Range. If housed beyond a 16 week period, then in accordance with Regulation (EC) 589/2008 they would then be classed as barn eggs and meat.
More information can be found at:
GOV.WALES: https://gov.wales/new-housing-measures-protect-poultry-and-captive-birds-against-avian-flu-0
and DAERA-NI.GOV.UK: https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/news/avian-influenza-housing-order-come-force-0
