Don’t fall ‘fowl’ of poultry registration rules
The shooting season may have come to an end but there’s never any excuse not to stay on top of the paperwork that accompanies owning poultry.
Under the Poultry Registration Rules landowners, farmers and shoots must compulsorily register their poultry or game bird flocks with the Animal and Plant Health Agency where 50 or more poultry or game birds are kept in captivity. This also includes smallholders or if part of the flock includes birds kept as pets.
The responsibility to register falls on the person whose responsibility it is for the day-to-day care of the flock.
Registration must take place within one month of keeping 50 birds or more and for the purposes of the rules, birds are classified as chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, guinea fowl, quail, partridges, pheasants and pigeons.
Landowners, farmers and shoots may also voluntarily register their flocks where they do not fulfil the above criteria.
If any one of the following changes occur you must notify the AHPA – poultry or game birds are no longer kept; the size of the flock changes by 20 per cent; the species of bird kept changes; or contact details for the landowner, farmer or shoot change.
Oliver Evans is FBC Manby Bowdler's agricultural expert
