South farmers fear bird flu would be 'game over'

Jerome Challen houses 12,000 hens in Maidenhead and Taplow

Farmers across the south of England are bracing for possible bird flu outbreaks after the government issued new rules to contain the virus.

A mandatory housing order means anyone who has more than 50 birds must keep them inside to lower the risk of avian influenza spreading.

The government said the measure, introduced this week, would "bring the rates of infection down from the high we are currently experiencing".

Jerome Challen, who has 12,000 hens and owns farms in Maidenhead and Taplow, said if his chickens caught bird flu it would be like "watching your house burn down".

There have been 26 cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza, external (HPAI) H5N1 on farms across the UK in the last month.

Whole flocks have to be culled when an outbreak occurs.

Mr Challen welcomed the government's order, and said the thought of his hens getting bird flu was "stomach churning".

"Last night when I went to bed, I felt like throwing up just thinking about what would happen," he said. "If you get bird flu it is game over."

Paul Tory, who is chair of the Dorset and Wiltshire Poultry Society, said as the weather got colder infected birds tended to migrate further south, bringing the disease with them.

Mr Tory said: "Ducks and geese seem to be more susceptible so there is a bit of a concern as we head into the festive period."

NFU Dorset county chair and poultry farmer Tim Gelf said a lot of turkey and geese farmers were worried.

"They're counting the days till they get to slaughter to get the birds prepared for Christmas," he added.

Meanwhile in Hampshire an 3km exclusion zone which was set up to contain bird flu has been revoked after no further cases were detected.