Bird flu: Farmer keeping poultry indoors despite lifted order

Will Fison said he was reluctant to let the birds out of the barn

A free-range egg producer said he would still keep his poultry indoors because there was the risk of them catching bird flu.

The requirement for bird owners to keep animals inside to reduce the spread of avian influenza has now been lifted.

Birds had been subject to a national housing order since 7 November to curb an unprecedented number of cases.

But Will Fison from Sudbury, Suffolk said: "The assurance isn't there that bird flu has gone away."

Free-range poultry was ordered to be brought inside in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, to avoid the birds coming into contact with wild birds.

Mandy and Will Fison said they wanted to be confident the risk of bird flu was lower before letting their poultry outside

The threat of the virus is now deemed low enough to allow free-range poultry and captive birds to be kept outside across the UK, except in small pockets of England and Wales where protection zones remain in place.

Farmers will have to adhere to strict biosecurity measures and keep birds away from land used by wild birds.

Eggs laid by hens with access to outdoor areas can be marketed as "free-range" again.

But Mr Fison, from Elmsett Game Farm in Great Cornard, near the Essex border, said the order for birds to be indoor should have been kept "for a little bit longer to make sure the virus has disappeared for peace of mind for us poultry breeders".

Mandy Fison said the birds were happy in the barn but eventually the farm will let them out

He called on Defra to bring in a "vaccination programme for commercial producers".

"We are as biosecure as we can be but avian flu is still out there, something more has to be done to protect us," he said.

His wife Mandy Fison said: "There is nothing we want more than to see the [hens] back on the grass."

But said the weather had not been warm enough to "kill the virus".

"It would be great to get the barn label off the box, but until we are completely comfortable to do so it'll remain on there, hopefully for only the next month or so, but we are going to take it day-by-day," she added.

Dr Christine Middlemiss, the UK's chief veterinary officer said "scrupulous biosecurity remains the most critical form of defence" against bird flu.

"The unprecedented nature of this outbreak has proven it's more important than ever for bird keepers to remain vigilant for signs of disease," she said.