Netherlands orders poultry indoors amid bird flu threat

Keeping poultry indoors has been made mandatory across the Netherlands because of the risk of bird flu.

Operative Information Center-OMM reports that Dutch Agriculture Minister Silvio Erkens issued the warning. He said the rising threat of bird flu required urgent decisions to prevent damage to farmers and farms.

The decision came shortly after a mass infection at an egg production facility in Illinois, United States, led to the culling of nearly 1 million chickens.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed that 934,600 birds were infected at Rose Acre Farms, the country’s second-largest egg producer, in Clinton County. Because there is no treatment for highly pathogenic avian influenza, infected birds are culled to prevent the virus from spreading.

The culling of about 1 million chickens could reduce egg supplies and lead to a sharp rise in prices. The Illinois case was the largest recorded in the country; Minnesota ranked second, with more than 168,000 birds affected.

Experts note that more than 210 million birds in the United States have died or been culled because of bird flu since February 2022. The risk of the virus spreading rises further during autumn and spring, when migratory wild birds travel.