From November 7, all poultry and pet birds must be kept indoors in England under new bird flu restrictions, the government announced. All this came after the turkey breeders warned: due to the most serious epidemic so far, it is not certain that there will be enough birds for Christmas. The British Poultry Council has warned that price rises are expected. Since October 2021, 5.5 million birds have died or been culled due to bird flu. 2.3 million of them in October this year. The disease is naturally present among wild birds, but it also spreads to birds kept as pets during migrations. In Cookham, Berkshire, farmer Tom Copas has already locked up his 60,000 free-range turkeys to protect them from the virus. “This is very scary right now. Our whole business depends on the Christmas market. If bird flu hits us, we'll lose everything" he told the BBC. “I know of two seasonal breeders who have developed the disease and will no longer be keeping turkeys because of it. One of them ...
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