Cooped up free-range hens set free again as bird flu spread slows in SA

SA's egg and poultry farmers are weighing up whether to continue housing their free-range birds.

Authorities had asked producers to voluntarily house birds to protect them from the spread of H5N1 bird flu.

New bird flu cases have eased in SA in recent weeks, but authorities say it is still spreading.

Three months after South Australian egg farmers were given the voluntary order to put their free-range chooks in lockdown, some producers are setting their hens free again.

In August, Riverland egg farmer Darren Letton was among those who took the precautionary step to lock his hens inside.

The deadly H5N1 virus had been detected in wild birds several weeks earlier and the number of confirmed cases was quickly climbing.

But now, as those cases dwindle, Mr Letton has released his chooks – albeit with some reluctance.

While the poultry industry has not reported any cases of bird flu in any agricultural settings across Australia, there is still some risk.

"Having a voluntary order allowed us to make that decision for ourselves, so a couple of weeks after [that] I decided to lock up my birds," Mr Letton said.

"Last week I decided it was time to let the birds out again.

It is a choice facing many of the state's free-range egg and poultry producers, with the SA government's voluntary housing recommendation for free-range poultry still in place and scheduled to run until November 20.

"I've talked to a few other producers about it," Mr Letton said.

"Some [chooks] are still locked up, some can't [be] and some [farmers] have decided they'd just weigh the cost of it."

Aside from the slowing spread of bird flu across SA, Mr Letton said his decision was also based on the potential cost of having to change his free-range packaging if he continued to house his hens.

As a result of H5 spreading to Australia, the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) issued guidance allowing farmers to keep chickens indoors and still use free-range cartons.

It means the ACCC will not take enforcement action against producers marketing their eggs or poultry meat as free-range if they are affected by a mandatory housing order or voluntary housing recommendation, for up to 90 days.

Beyond that time, producers need to provide alternative labelling for consumers.

"It's not an easy thing to do," Mr Letton said.

"A lot of us have free-range egg cartons, we don't have barn-laid cartons — you can't just produce them overnight."

Mr Letton said he would "keep an eye" on the virus' spread, fearing that if it did reach his flock, it would decimate his business.

"Because if it happens, that'll be the thing that makes me decide to get out of the industry."

SA's chief veterinarian Skye Fruean said the state had recorded 342 bird flu cases as of Monday, but detections had slowed in recent weeks.

She said she was "not necessarily" surprised by that trend.

"We don't have a crystal ball, so we never knew where this was going to go," Dr Fruean said.

"Our MO was to plan for the worst and hope for the best, and it's very pleasing to see that the numbers do seem to be decreasing, but we only need it to spill into a new species for it to potentially take off again, so we do need to keep that surveillance effort up.

Dr Fruean said her advice to the state's egg and poultry producers to consider housing their free-range birds was constantly being reviewed, but had not changed.

"The reason is because the risk is still there," she said.

"It is very pleasing that we haven't had any detections in the poultry sector, and I certainly hope it stays that way, [but] what we've learned from overseas is that we can probably expect that to happen at some point in time.

"That's what we and the poultry industry are planning for, to prevent that as much as we can.

"Broadly, the advice is a precautionary measure — keep your chooks inside if it's feasible and safe to do so.

"We need to take into consideration the biosecurity risk, but also considerations such as welfare, so we're not encouraging everyone to lock up their chooks without considering those other factors."