With a housing order enforced in England until further notice, all domestic birds must be kept indoors to prevent the spread of bird flu (avian influenza). Whether housing a backyard flock, or a free-range commercial flock, increasing enrichment during the ‘flockdown’ period will support bird welfare and health.
What is bird enrichment?
Enrichment for birds simply means providing mental and physical stimulation, which gives birds opportunities to express natural behaviours like pecking, scratching and dustbathing.
Types of enrichment include:
- Alfalfa bales
- Lucerne bales
- Grit
- Pecking stones
- Perches
- Household recycling such as milk bottles or cardboard
- Provision of good quality litter
- Scatter feeding across litter
Without sufficient enrichment, birds can become stressed as they do not have an outlet to express natural behaviours, which leads to destructive behaviours such as aggression between birds, feather pecking and cannibalism. Stressed birds are also more susceptible to infectious diseases such as E. coli.
It is important to rotate the type of enrichment made available to birds, as they can become bored with having access to the same thing day-in-day-out.
How to improve enrichment during ‘flockdown’
In normal circumstances, the provision of two enrichment items per 1,000 birds and rotating items every two or three weeks is generally sufficient. However, while the space to range freely is limited during the compulsory housing period, increasing the number of enrichment items made available and the frequency of rotation between items will support flocks.
It’s important to observe a flock to check they are using the enrichment available to them and to provide more if needed. Not all flocks respond to enrichment items in the same way. For example, a commercial flock of free-range layers may completely ignore lucerne bales for their entire flock cycle, but the next flock may peck through them within a week.
Some birds will have a greater need for certain types of enrichment. Fully beaked birds always benefit from the provision of pecking stones, as they can grind down the tip of the beak, so even if they do engage in less desirable behaviours like aggression towards other birds, they will cause less damage.
Similarly, in flat deck housing set-ups where the birds are all on one level, the provision of perches throughout the ‘flockdown’ period will give the birds increased opportunity to move around.
Enrichment is a key part of supporting a flock’s welfare and health during the compulsory housing period. For more information see our 12 tips for ‘hen lockdown or find out how to keep your birds healthy through a bird flu outbreak.
