Poultry Housing Orders

Housing Orders to help combat the threat of Avian Influenza have been used by the UK Government since 2016. The most recent iteration in the winter of 2024/25 saw a move from National Housing Orders to Regional Housing orders in England, the handling of which has left many poultry keepers with serious concerns about whether APHA/Defra understand the balance of risk and animal welfare and the challenges of small flocks. Fiona & Hugh Osborne look at the issues.

- Fiona & Hugh Osborne

THE RISE OF AVIAN INFLUENZA

Way back in 2016 two highly pathogenic strains of Avian Influenza (AI) were on the rise. These were H5N1 and H5N8. In November of that year, the UK Government brought in precautionary Housing Order measures to prevent the spread of the disease from wild birds to domestic poultry.

Just to set the scene, the disease is awful, causing high mortality, chickens heads to swell, combs and wattles to discolour and turn black as anoxia takes effect amongst many other depressing and horrifying symptoms. The virus, like all flu viruses are more prevalent in colder, winter months and there are higher dangers of spread though migratory birds, particularly waterfowl. Make no mistake though, the evidence is that the disease is now endemic in the wild bird population. The Risk Assessment published by APHA/Defra on the 18th March 2025 speculated over the marked increase in cases in gulls and whether this would continue into summer.

As poultry keepers, none of us want our flocks to suffer the disease, so many of us have been patient in complying with the Housing Orders in order to safeguard our flocks... but we are in danger of jumping ahead to why so many of us are no longer comfortable with the current handling of Housing Orders.

If you’re not a poultry keeper, or anew poultry keeper, the Housing Orders don’t mean that chickens must be kept entirely indoors, which would be ridiculous for most backyard chicken keepers and smallholders who traditionally have smaller coops. Instead, it means that there is a legal requirement for chickens to be kept either indoors or a significant reduction in the welfare conditions for their flock. For us, our chickens went from roaming our large orchard to being confined in a 12m x 3m netted enclosure. This very first Housing Order wasn’t lifted until April 2017.