Farm loses 32,000 hens in England’s first bird-flu outbreak of season
The affected Northumberland farm faces losses above £100,000, its owner estimates, as animal health officials impose controls to contain the virus.
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The affected Northumberland farm faces losses above £100,000, its owner estimates, as animal health officials impose controls to contain the virus.
England’s first confirmed bird-flu outbreak of the season has led to the loss of all 32,000 laying hens at a free-range farm near Belford, Northumberland. Thousands died from the infection, and the remaining birds were culled to limit its spread. Farmer Catherine Armstrong told the BBC she expected the outbreak to cost her business more than £100,000.
Armstrong said the flock normally produced 28,500 eggs a day for UK supermarkets. One other UK case had been recorded this season, on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland.
The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) imposed containment measures around the farm. The virus was confirmed on Tuesday, and all remaining poultry were culled within two days. The outbreak’s source remains unknown, although wild birds are suspected of bringing the virus onto the site despite its strict biosecurity measures—precautions intended to keep infection out.
Gary Ford of the British Free Range Egg Producers’ Association said the farm had high biosecurity standards, but these could not always prevent infection because free-range hens regularly came into contact with wild birds. He said the association would ask the government for a regional housing order requiring poultry to be kept indoors near coastal areas and migratory-bird flight paths. That is an industry request, separate from APHA’s controls already in place.
APHA said colder temperatures and the arrival of migratory birds were expected to bring more infections. It urged bird keepers to maintain strong biosecurity measures to limit spread.
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