Avian influenza hits major barn egg outfit

A major barn egg producer near Wybunbury, in Cheshire has been hit with an outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), impacting 300,000 birds.

The case confirmed by Defra on 13 October follows an outbreak affecting 20,000 birds at a broiler breeder in Omagh, County Tyrone (5 October), and a flock of captive birds near Stockbridge in Hampshire (11 October).

Defra has confirmed that a 3km protection zone and a 10km surveillance zone have been established around the premises, and all poultry will be humanely culled.

See also: Bird flu hits high biosecurity broiler breeder unit

The British Free Range Egg Producers Association (Bfrepa) said the loss from the Cheshire unit represents just over 10% of the UK national barn flock, which currently stands at approximately 2.2 million birds. Before the losses of barn birds earlier this year due to bird flu, the UK barn flock stood at nearly 3.0 million birds.

However, Gary Ford , head of strategy at Bfrepa added: “The UK national layer flock has steadily been increasing over the past couple of years, and so supply from alternative systems should adjust for this tragic loss.”

The last bird flu “season”, which ran from 1 October 2024 to 30 September 2025, reported nearly 2.4 million bird casualties.

The risk of HPAI H5 in wild birds in Great Britain is currently considered “high”.

However, the risk of poultry exposure to the virus is classified as “medium” where biosecurity measures are suboptimal or poor, and “low” where strict biosecurity is consistently maintained.

Maintain high biosecurity

British Egg Industry Council chief executive Nick Allen said: “We have seen a number of recent outbreaks of avian flu, which is very distressing for the farmers concerned, and our thoughts are with them.”

He emphasised that, while the cause of this latest outbreak is not yet known, it serves as a timely reminder to all producers that maintaining the highest biosecurity standards at all times is essential.