In early December the Animal and Plant Health Agency (who bird keepers register with) sent out a letter telling registered bird keepers around the country to keep their birds inside (separated from wild birds) from the 14th of December as the H5N8 virus more commonly known as Bird Flu has made its way around the U.K .
The new measures that came into force on the 14th of December in Wales, England and Scotland, make it a legal requirement for all bird keepers to follow strict biosecurity measures.
Now, as confirmed by the Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales, cases were discovered at a premises in Penysarn near Amlwch on Anglesey.
The Welsh government immediately put in place a temporary control zone the mortality of birds at the premises is high with all those that may survive being culled.
The risk to humans has been stated as “Very low” as stated by the government here.
The temporary control zone came into force yesterday (the 27th of January 2021 at 21.00 GMT) and will run until the declaration is withdrawn or amended by further declaration, the Welsh Government said.
“This case of Avian Influenza in pheasants on Anglesey serves to reinforce the need for all keepers of poultry and other captive birds to practice the very highest levels of biosecurity,” said Christianne Glossop, the Chief Veterinary Officer for Wales.
Poultry keepers with 50 or more birds must be on the governments poultry register, those with fewer are strongly advised to register their birds to enable disease control, and they will be immediately informed in the event of an avian disease outbreak.
What does this mean about ‘free range’ chickens and their eggs?
The farmers who have been forced to move their birds indoors in these immediate circumstances may continue to market the meat as “free range” as long as the measures do not last longer than 12 weeks.
For their eggs, 16 weeks. After which, the eggs must be downgraded to be tabled “barn produced”.
Aimee Mahony, chief poultry adviser for the National Farmers’ Union, said the new rules were “a logical next step”.
“These new measures mean that every poultry keeper, whether you have one hen in the garden or a large poultry business, must house their birds indoors and I would urge everyone with poultry to take these measures seriously,” she said.