Melton rare poultry breeds show is cancelled again

Poultry on show at the Spring rare breeds show at Melton Cattle Market EMN-170205-170415001

Organisers of the popular annual rare poultry show at Melton have had to re-schedule it for a third time due to a delay over the lifting of restrictions on owners following the UK Bird Flu outbreak.

The Spring Sale of Graded Traditional Pure and Rare Breed Poultry and Waterfowl was due to take place at the town’s cattle market on Saturday after it was previously moved from last month.

That was because the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) suspended all gatherings for the sale of poultry in December to prevent circulation of the Bird Flu virus.

A spokesperson for Melton Cattle Market said: “The rare breeds poultry show scheduled for Saturday May 6 will not be going ahead.

“DEFRA has announced that the ban on poultry gatherings will be lifted from May 15, but unfortunately that is obviously too late for this sale.

“We are in talks with vendors and buyers to see if we can re-schedule the sale for the end of May.

“Our apologies for all the disruption.”

Last month the government announced that poultry would be allowed to run free again because fears over the spread of Bird Flu had eased due to wild birds migrating.

Owners were still asked to comply with strict biosecurity measures, such as cleaning footwear, keeping bird residences clean and feeding birds indoors.