Golden Plains-wide poultry housing order lifted

But all birds in restricted area still need to be kept inside.

AN order from Agriculture Victoria that all poultry in Golden Plains Shire be kept confided in coops or housing has been lifted.

The move became official last Saturday and means only animals in the restricted zone around Lethbridge must still be kept indoors.

The Shirewide housing order has been in place for about six weeks and came after four cases of two different strains of bird flu – H7N7 and H5N2 – were detected in commercial chicken and turkey flocks over the last few months.

It applied to all chickens, turkeys, ducks and other poultry and was aimed at stopping the spread of the viruses.

“We are taking an incremental approach to the lifting of restrictions to be confident that the threat of avian influenza has been eliminated,” said chief veterinary officer Dr Graeme Cooke.

“During the first step the housing order will still apply to bird owners in the two-kilometre buffer zone near Lethbridge where the infected properties were detected, but we can lift it in the rest of the Golden Plains Shire.”

While the housing order has been lifted in all but the restricted area, limits on the movement of poultry farming plant and equipment, meat and eggs, as well as waste from farms, at the farm gate and backyard flocks still remain.

“The control order prohibiting the movement of poultry, birds, related equipment and products within and out of the Golden Plains Shire without a permit will also continue across the Shire,” said Dr Cooke.

“Surveillance operations are continuing to monitor the viral load of avian influenza in the area.

“Spill over events from wild birds can still occur from time to time so we’re urging all bird owners to continue to practise good biosecurity to reduce the risk of their flocks being infected.”

Dr Cooke also reiterated ongoing messages regarding poultry in Golden Plains Shire.

They include making sure birds’ drinking water is clean, and along with feed, is kept away from wild birds, pets and vermin, that domestic birds are kept away from potentially contaminated water like streams, dams, ponds, a good volume of feed is given to animals and it’s from a reputable feed-mill, and that coops, feeders and drinkers are cleaned regularly and nesting materials are replaced.

The Shire bird flu challenge began back in early June when a free-range egg farm tested positive for the highly virulent H7N7 strain.

Since then two other chicken farms have returned positive for the same virous, while a turkey farm came back positive for the less infectious H5N2 strain.