Backyard keepers to be included in the Poultry Register

Published on : 30 Mar 2023

The current law requires that keepers with 50 birds or more to register on APHA’s GB poultry register

All keepers of poultry and captive birds in Great Britain would have to register their birds with the APHA, according to a recently launched government consultation. They only exception would be for ‘pet’ birds kept exclusively inside the house.

The consultation from the English, Scottish and Welsh governments would change the current law which only requires that keepers with 50 birds or more to register on APHA’s GB poultry register although keepers with less than 50 birds are encouraged to sign up voluntarily.
This change would align the rest of Great Britain with N. Ireland where all keepers (with one or more birds) are required to register.

The current system requires the keeper to notify within 1 month of any changes in the following information:

• contact information (keeper’s name and address);

• the species of poultry kept at the premises;

• an increase or decrease of 20% or more in the number of birds of poultry species, unless the changes is due to usual management fluctuations

The registration process involves the keeper completing a form and submitting it by post or email (scanned copy) to the APHA. All information is then manually transferred by APHA staff into the database. Defra is currently looking to streamline the registration process by introducing an online portal. This will allow new keepers to register their birds online or for existing keepers to access and update their record or deregister if they no longer keep birds.

The online platform will be rolled out in phases. The first phase, likely to be rolled out this summer, will enable online registration; subsequent phases will allow all producers to review and update their information.

The information on the poultry register is important to control notifiable avian disease outbreaks (such as Newcastle Disease and avian influenza). The proposed legislation in the consultation intends to include all bird keepers, including backyard keepers of less than 50 hens, and allows the devolved government administrations to:

• communicate with keepers when there is a heightened risk of bird flu incursion on measures they need to take to protect their birds, and to prevent disease spread.

• follow the disease control measures set out in domestic legislation such as undertaking surveillance activities in any restricted zone following confirmation of bird flu.

• meet EU disease freedom requirements for trade purposes following an outbreak of disease

Without adequate and accurate information on the location of all bird premises, it is impossible for government to communicate with all bird keepers during outbreaks of disease or to effectively undertake outbreak related activities.

Having up to date information on the location of bird premises increases the effectiveness of activities carried out by government such as risk assessments, tracing investigations and sharing communications with keepers on how to protect their birds. Therefore, it is vital that accurate and up to date information on the location of bird premises is captured on the register.

Currently, minimum number requirements for the registration of farmed animals and poultry differ. In 2018 a Government review of regulation in agriculture concluded “ we advocate the removal of the lower bird number limit for registration of poultry, because of the risk of exotic disease and the operational need to reach all poultry owners when an outbreak occurs.”

BFREPA and other industry bodies have also argued over many years to reduce the bird number limit below 50. The Poultry Health and Welfare Group (PHWG), which represents all industry poultry representative groups including BFREPA, worked with APHA in revising the registration form in 2017.

As recently as April 2022, the PHWG Chairman at the time, Mark Williams, wrote to the three Chief Veterinary Officers in Great Britain requesting “that the GBPR receives an overhaul, including lowering of the threshold for mandatory registration and annual update / confirmation of the details required.

Ideally, we would like to see the threshold reduced to 1 bird, however, we recognise that this would place a significant burden on administrative resources. We would therefore propose that 10 birds would be an acceptable threshold as this would pick up the majority of non-commercial flocks / hobby flocks, but not pet flocks of which there are many thousand. A mandatory annual update, to ensure accuracy and therefore relevance, is also requested please.”

These lobbying efforts from industry have resonated louder with Defra following the worst bird flu season on record. As a result Defra has come forward with the consultation; its preferred option in the consultation is to:

• Extend the current mandatory registration requirements to cover all birds, reducing the registration threshold from 50 birds to 1 bird. This proposal will exclude pet birds (eg budgies or parrots) kept entirely within the house but would include racing pigeons

• Require all keepers to review and update their information on the register by a specified date and within an agreed time frame, annually. This proposal would help to improve the accuracy of data held by APHA on the database and to assist in disease prevention and control. These proposed changes would be in addition to the existing obligation to inform APHA within a month if numbers change by more than 20%.

The proposed changes will not be implemented until new keepers can register their birds via the online portal and those already registered are able to review and update their information via the online platform.

Defra has proposed a second option, which is to reduce the threshold to 10 birds, rather than their preferred option of 1 bird. But Defra says that “although this option will capture more information on some keepers compared to the do-nothing option, we consider that it would not adequately improve the information held on the poultry register to any significant benefit. For example, it would not increase the effectiveness or efficiency of activities carried out by government prior to or during outbreaks of bird flu or Newcastle disease.”

There is a third option, which is to do nothing and keep things as they are. Most poultry organisations, including BFREPA. will be opting for one of the first two options. BFREPA will be responding on behalf of members, but producers should also take the time to respond online at:

• English

• Welsh

• Or alternatively by email to poultry&captivebirdsregistrationconsultation@defra.gov.uk. Responses must be sent in by 31 May.