Bird flu: Suffolk farmer urges people to buy Christmas birds now to freeze as outbreak grows

People are being encouraged to buy Christmas birds now and freeze them as the worst avian flu outbreak in UK history continues to spread.

The news comes after a new housing order was put in place by the government on Wednesday which makes it a legal requirement for all bird keepers in Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of Essex to keep their birds indoors and to follow stringent biosecurity measures.

Gressingham Foods, which is the main duck producer in the UK, has had 46 cases of bird flu in the last two months and has lost all of its geese for Christmas.

Owner William Buchanan told ITV News there could be empty shelves in the run-up to the Christmas period and that people should start buying fresh birds now.

"So far, nationally we have lost around 5% of the turkey flock, so availability is going to be tight. There could be some empty shelves, and you are likely to see higher prices," he said.

"We are urging all of our retail customers to buy fresh birds now, put them on the shelf, then consumers can go and buy their turkey and freeze it at home."

The news comes a week after The National Farmers Union had said that there was a risk supply could become disrupted over Christmas due to a rising number of bird flu cases.

Mark Gorton has been a poultry farmer for 35 years in Shropham in Norfolk, and said he had never seen a crisis as big as this.

"Every day, every hour, we are worried," said Mr Gorton, the managing director of Traditional Norfolk Poultry.

"You go to bed worrying, you lie awake at night worrying about it. We are now in the window of Christmas production.

"We actually start processing our first birds in a little over five weeks' time so any interruption or loss of birds on the farm now will have a direct effect on Christmas."

The NFU is now calling for the government to put national restrictions in place to stop the problem from getting worse.

  • Christine Middlemiss spoke ITV News Anglia presenter David Whiteley about the problem.

Christine Middlemiss, the chief veterinary officer for the government told ITV News Anglia she was monitoring the situation.

"We're very concerned about what's going on, obviously. And we've seen this spike of confirmed cases in East Anglia," she said.

"We are looking across England and right across Great Britain at what the changing risk level is - we look every single day at that.

"There are lots of messaging to all bird keepers everywhere about biosecurity and cleanliness."

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