You must continue to regularly clean and disinfect your footwear and clothes before entering enclosures, stop your birds mixing with any wild birds and only allow visitors that are strictly necessary. The avian flu outbreak has not gone away and implementing scrupulous biosecurity remains absolutely critical. Whether you keep just a few birds or thousands, you must take action now to protect your birds from this highly infectious disease. Many poultry keepers in Suffolk have excellent biosecurity standards but the number of cases we are seeing suggests that not enough is being done by all bird keepers to keep bird flu out. However we are still seeing a number of bird flu cases both on commercial farms and in backyard birds right across Suffolk. We have taken swift action to limit the spread of the disease including by introducing housing measures. Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss said: The Chief Veterinary Officer is reminding all poultry keepers that whilst the main source of infection comes from migratory wild birds, those failing to implement these measures risk infecting their own flocks by walking the virus into their holdings. The UK Health Security Agency has confirmed that the risk to public health is very low and the Food Standards Agency has said that bird flu poses a very low food safety risk for UK consumers, and it does not affect the consumption of poultry or eggs. People can also spread the disease on their clothes and shoes so before going into bird enclosures you should wash your hands, and change or clean and disinfect your footwear. Wild birds spread the disease so it is vital to not allow wild birds to mix with your chickens, ducks, geese or other birds. These measures apply to all bird keepers whether you keep birds commercially or have a single pet chicken. If you do not do this, the disease could kill your birds and you could be prosecuted. This means that if you keep chickens, ducks, geese or any other birds you are legally required to keep them indoors and to follow strict biosecurity measures. The Government introduced housing measures in November 2021 to minimise the disease spreading.

The warning comes as the UK faces its largest ever outbreak of bird flu with over 100 cases confirmed since the start of November. In the last month alone, there have been five new infected premises confirmed in Suffolk with highly pathogenic avian influenza. The UK’s Chief Veterinary Officer Christine Middlemiss is today urging poultry keepers in Suffolk to step up their efforts in the fight against bird flu following a recent spike of cases in the county.

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