Free-range hens across Aotearoa may keep going in and out of lockdown for months, as farmers watch for bird flu.
Bird flu is a disease that can make birds very sick, and it has now been found three times in wild birds in New Zealand — most recently in a seabird called a petrel, near Wellington.
To protect their flocks, many egg farms have kept hens inside instead of letting them roam outdoors as usual.
John McKay, chairperson of the Egg Producers Federation and chief executive of Mainland Poultry, told RNZ’s Checkpoint that farmers now had good information to help judge the risk to their birds.
He said the risk to chickens was still low, even after the third case. “It’s in a petrel and it’s likely we will continue to find those ocean going birds occasionally washed up on our shores,” McKay said.
Because of this, Mainland Poultry decided to let about half a million of its hens back outside from Wednesday morning.
McKay said the risk could change again in future, and “the welfare of our birds is paramount” — so hens might need to go back inside if needed.
He said this kind of on-and-off lockdown could become a normal part of free-range farming from now on.
To keep shoppers informed, Mainland Poultry plans to add clear stickers to egg cartons whenever hens have been kept inside, so families always know how their eggs were produced.
One thing worth flagging: the used-articles log already has a very similar RNZ story on this exact topic (bird flu, free-range hens, John McKay) from 25 August. This piece has newer details — the third case in a petrel near Wellington, and the Wednesday release of half a million hens — so it reads as a genuine follow-up rather than a straight repeat, but you may want to double-check it’s not headed for the same digest slot twice.
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