Best practice biosecurity

In the poultry industry, best practice biosecurity is dependent on some key areas:

• Bird health – birds should be regularly checked to ensure they are healthy and actions taken to reduce the spread of pathogens. Keeping records is an important aspect of monitoring poultry health.
• Poultry feed – birds should have access to high quality feed. Feed should be stored in a dry and secure location to avoid contamination from wild birds or rodents.
• Water - birds must be provided access to safe, clean drinking water. Ensure drinking water is kept away from wild birds. Drinking water may require sanitation to ensure it is free from pathogens to prevent disease or food safety issues. More information can be found in the National Water Biosecurity Manual - Poultry Production.
• Controlled entry – people, vehicles, and other vectors can introduce disease to poultry, so it is important to control access to sheds, range areas, and other sections of the production area using gates, fences and signs.
• Hygiene – diseases can be spread from humans to birds and birds to humans, so it is important to maintain a high standard of hygiene when working with poultry. This includes handwashing, wearing site boots and clothes and foot baths. Equipment, machinery and vehicles can also spread disease. Where possible, avoid bringing these into the production area, or if it can't be avoided, it is good practice to clean and disinfect these when coming onto and off the premises.
• Emergency Animal Disease (EAD) Management – it is important to be aware of what to do if there is a suspected on confirmed EAD outbreak. Knowing who to contact and having contingency plans in place. The Emergency Animal Disease Hotline (24 hours) is available on 1800 675 888. More information is available at Animal biosecurity.
• Rodent control - rodents can also carry diseases and cause significant damage to poultry facilities. It is important to have good rodent controls in place. More information can be found at Poultry Hub Rodent Control.

All of the above should be considered and recorded in a poultry Biosecurity Management Plan (BMP). A BMP helps identify areas for improvement to biosecurity practices, but additionally, provides extra protection against biosecurity risks caused by unlawful entry because all visitors to a property must comply with its BMP’s requirements.