UK poultry producers face 'bad season' bird fluThe situation is much worse than last year, leading to limited supplies of Christmas birds, including turkeys, chickens and ducks.
Two industry insiders said supplies of all poultry would be limited ahead of the holiday season, especially organically raised and free-range birds, which are considered most vulnerable to infection.
There will also likely be fewer heavier birds as some producers began processing them earlier to avoid the risk of contamination.
It is estimated that around 5% of the UK's Christmas poultry stock – including turkeys, ducks and chickens – amounting to around 300,000 birds, has been slaughtered this season.
The current outbreak of bird flu in the UK has recorded more cases than last winter, although it is not yet as severe as in 2022/23, which was largest outbreak the country has ever experienced.
Despite this, major retailers are expected to have ample inventory thanks to strong supplier agreements and their willingness to pay more for pre-orders, even if it means lower profits.
Smaller retailers will likely have a harder time finding birds, or may have to raise prices for customers to cover higher inventory costs.
“Some producers have been hit very hard,” said Richard Griffiths, chief executive of the British Poultry Council. “We are seeing an increase in cases and it is a bad season, much worse than last year.”
Gressingham, which supplies ducks to retailers including Waitrose, was among the firms to have an outbreak of bird flu, but did not confirm how many birds had died.
Free-range organic poultry producer Capestone Organic Poultry, based in west Wales, also had an outbreak on one of its farms that resulted in the destruction of 48,000 turkeys on that farm.
“We only have organic, free-range produce, nothing is stored, so we are particularly vulnerable,” said Rob Kumin, managing director of Capestone, which supplies birds to several major UK supermarkets.
He said the outbreak and subsequent culling has a “quite emotional impact”, explaining: “You have a very vested interest in the welfare of the birds; y'all feel it in terms of waste.
“You wonder if you could have done more, and that creates a lot of emotion for the employees and the whole team.”
Earlier this month, bird keepers in England were ordered to keep flocks of more than 50 birds indoors from November 6.
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The ruling extended previous measures to cover northern, central and parts of eastern England, amid a rise in bird flu outbreaks in both captive and wild birds. Housing order came into force in Wales November 13.
An avian influenza prevention zone is in place across the UK, requiring strict biosecurity measures to try to limit the spread of the disease.
However, new cases of the disease have been recorded. confirmed almost daily throughout the country, including in large commercial poultry farms. Around 50 cases have been announced since the season began in early October, most of them in England.
“Producers are doing everything they can to manage the birds and cope with the situation,” Griffiths said.
“The next couple of weeks will be crucial for the birds being slaughtered at Christmas. Once we get to that point, we can all breathe a sigh of relief for another year.”
Animal and plant Health The agency is tasked with responding to disease outbreaks on behalf of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Outbreak response manager Sascha van Helvoort said: “We have had an almost continuous outbreak response in recent years, including in 2023, which was the largest outbreak of bird flu this country has ever experienced.”
