Cleaner Farms Better flocks: Keeping out disease and harmful bacteria - By the Food Standards Agency - Protect your business: On every chicken farm there are invisible threats to the birds – and your profits. Poultry diseases and food poisoning bacteria can easily find their way in and spread through the flock.

Good biosecurity is essential to protect your birds. Are you doing everything you can to keep your farm clean and biosecure?

Good biosecurity pays off. It helps to:

• protect the health of your birds
• improve your profit margin
• reduce disease-control costs
• protect your health and your employees’ health
• protect the public’s health
• increase customer confidence

Protect the birds

• Only allow essential visitors into each poultry house and make sure visitors follow the hygiene rules. Each visit could bring in infection.
  
  

• All employees and visitors must wash or sanitise their hands before and after visiting each poultry house.
  
  

• Boots can carry infection into, and out of, the houses. All employees must use dedicated boots for each house. Visitors must use different clean overshoes in each house.
  
  

• All employees and visitors must wear protective clothing when visiting the birds.
  
  

• Clean and disinfect equipment before and after using it in each house.
  
  

• Always clean and disinfect each poultry house properly between flocks, to prevent infection from passing to the next flock.

Protect each poultry house

Eliminate vermin.

Keep livestock, pets, wild birds and game birds away from the houses and feed stores. All these animals can carry and spread infection.

Dispose of litter and dead birds properly, because these can be infected and can attract wild animals and vermin.

Clean up any feed spills straight away, because these can attract wild birds, game birds and vermin.

Protect your farm

• Make sure you know who is coming onto the farm and keep a record. Visitors and their vehicles can bring infection onto the farm.
  
  

• Clean and disinfect any vehicle or trailer coming onto or leaving the farm (including the tyres).
  
  

• Keep your whole site clean and tidy, particularly the area surrounding the houses, to discourage pests that can spread infection.

Source: Food Standards Agency - August 2004