SPECIAL REPORT: The five-month-long bird flu ‘flockdown’, a set of quarantine measures affecting the UK’s domestic poultry population, has finally come to an end. Claire Hamlett reports on the struggles faced by chickens and more yet to come as chicken-keepers return to work following Covid-19.

After five long months, a mandatory housing measure that required all domestic chickens across the UK to be kept indoors was lifted a few days ago. The measure was one of a slew of biosecurity rules issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to stop the spread of avian flu. While other rules remain in place, such as using disinfectants and minimising contact with birds, the ‘flockdown’ was the most worrying for the birds’ welfare. With avian flu outbreaks far from contained, future flockdowns are inevitable. And it isn’t just commercially farmed chickens who are affected, but backyard birds too, including those who were rescued from a life of exploitation.

“Personally,  I can see that the birds are distressed and frustrated,” said Dr Katie Oliver, an animal geographer at Cambridge University who studies urban chicken-keeping, speaking to Surge before the recent flockdown was lifted. She visited many backyard chickens over the flockdown period, interviewing their keepers who mainly care for rescue hens as part of her research. 

Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a surge in backyard chicken-keeping in Britain, with charities like Fresh Start for Hens seeing inquiries about adopting birds jumping to as high as 4,000 a week. Some of the demand was driven by people wanting to have ready access to eggs, and some was because people were looking for ways to fill up their suddenly constricted lives. Oliver explained that the chickens who have been rehomed after being rescued from farms “have gone from cages to runs, and so in that sense, their welfare is up and they are thriving. But it's also sad that they haven't (yet) been able to go out and free-range.” By comparison, she said, “The birds who were free-ranging and are now locked in are struggling more. The hens at the gardens I've been at are desperate to be out, rushing to the door every time someone goes past. It's difficult as they don't know why they are back inside.”

Chicken-keepers have had to put in a lot of work and money to accommodate the chickens indoors. Those who have kept flocks for years and have been through flockdowns before were better prepared for the extra-long haul of this most recent one. Oliver described how people adapted indoor spaces: “from huge walk-in covered runs … to expanding houses ... One of the most inventive ones I've heard of is a huge gazebo being lined with chicken wire as walls to ensure the chickens have lots of space!”

Never miss an article

Stay up-to-date with the weekly Surge newsletter to never miss an article, media production or investigation. We respect your privacy.

Chickens like to forage, dust-bathe, nest, and communicate with each other. They have long-term memories and the capacity to problem-solve and think creatively. Keeping them occupied and happy during flockdowns requires further effort from keepers. Some will have made the effort and some wouldn’t have. “In my personal opinion, the people who were keeping hens well anyway still are,” said Oliver. “Those who weren't, aren't!” Despite the best efforts of good keepers, though, the birds Oliver visited were clearly “fed up and bored.”

Not everybody has followed DEFRA rules, however, in some cases because they weren’t aware that the rules applied to their flock, and in others because they chose to ignore them. “I know lots of domestic keepers are now assessing the risk for themselves,” said Oliver, “and have decided to let their hens out as they have weighed up their welfare/risk and made that decision to go against the lockdown.” But as Oliver wrote recently for the Conversation, this does pose a health risk to the birds as well as to keepers. 

The biosecurity measures imposed by DEFRA proved too much for some chicken-keepers, with more than 1,500 abandoned birds dealt with by the RSPCA back in December 2020. “Most people who take in chickens don't have endless time and capacity to provide space and enrichment for their chickens, as much as they might want to!” said Oliver. “I'm seeing more and more people giving up their flocks (by trying to give them away or "dispatching" them) as they can't cope with the increased needs of even small flocks at the moment.” An example of how chickens might be “dispatched” is leaving the coop door open to let foxes “take care of then hens,” as Jaki Hann, operations director of Fresh Start for Hens told the BBC. “It's a terrifying way to die and needless,” she said. “We always take the hens back if people ask."

As with other companion animals acquired during the pandemic, chickens are likely also to have been abandoned as a result of Covid lockdowns lifting and people’s lives returning to normal. This trend was by no means confined to the UK, with reports of the same thing happening in the US and Germany too.

“People ‘panic bought’ chickens thinking ‘they must be easy’,” said Oliver, “and, for me, this ties into much bigger questions over how easy it is to buy or hatch chickens (there is so little regulation, it's shocking) and how little their welfare plays into this. While many people with chickens are kind and care, it's far from all of them, and can lead to awful situations for birds.”

Claire Hamlett is a freelance journalist, writer and regular contributor at Surge. Based in Oxford, UK, Claire tells stories that challenge systemic exploitation of and disregard for animals and the environment and that point to a better way of doing things.

Your support makes a huge difference to us. Supporting Surge with a monthly or one-off donation enables us to continue our work to end all animal oppression.

LATEST ARTICLES