Fowl! Farmer gives chickens footballs in bird flu lockdown

Birds appear to like the red toys the best

The birds have been given ‘added enrichments’  (PA)

A bird flu lockdown has led to a farmer giving his chickens a football to play with.

Phill Crawley, who co-owns egg producer Sunrise Poultry Farms in Leicestershire, said that his older hens enjoy pecking at playthings outside so he decided to bring the toys in during the lockdown.

From Monday 14 December, bird keepers in England, Scotland and Wales are having to keep their flocks inside and follow biosecurity measures.

The order was made by The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and is the first time in four years that farmers have been asked to keep birds inside. 

This comes as new bird flu cases have been recorded across Europe and the UK and threat levels have been moved from “low” to “medium.”

Restrictions will apply to chickens, turkeys, geese, pigeon (bred for meat), ducks, partridge, quail, pheasants and guinea fowl. As yet no end date for measures has been set, but Defra said they will be kept under review.

Mr Crawley said that this was not the first time that they had dealt with bird flu restrictions. He added that keeping the flock inside “is what we have to deal with” and that “the birds are creatures of habit.”

The farmer pointed out that younger birds were unlikely to be affected by being inside since they know little different, but that the older birds are “slightly different.”

As a result, and as a way to keep the birds entertained, Mr Crawley has given them “added enrichments” and “toys” to distract them. These have included a selection of multicoloured footballs. Apparently they like the red ones best.

Mr Crawley explained: "The footballs are a funny one. They like a red football, but I bought a load of footballs and the green the yellow and the blue ones – 'I like you'. The red ones – 'I like you a lot'.”

He has also used traffic cones as a form of amusement. The chickens will apparently peck at them to see a reflection "as they like the reflective strip round the outside".

The business is family owned and has been free  range since 1997.

With new bird lockdown measures, eggs are still allowed to be marketed as free-range for the next 16 weeks and meat for the next 12. Should restrictions last longer they will be required to be labeled as barn-produced instead.

In the UK, in order for eggs or meat to be called free range, a chicken needs to spend at least half its life with access to outdoor space. For meat, it must be at least 56 days old before it is killed.