Christmas is the busiest few weeks of your year, and the turkey and goose orders are being locked in about now. So the timing of this isn’t great: bird flu is back for the 2026-27 season. H5N5 was confirmed in a small backyard flock at Ness on the Isle of Lewis on 2 October, then on 19 October H5N1 was confirmed at a 32,000-bird commercial free-range egg farm near Belford in Northumberland, England’s first poultry outbreak of the season.
This week FarmingUK reported a further case on a poultry farm near Biggar in southern Scotland, with a 3km protection zone and a 10km surveillance zone around it. I’d treat that one as reported rather than confirmed until gov.scot lists it, but the pattern is the same run-in we’ve seen in previous winters: wild-bird risk rising through the autumn, first farm cases in October, and the next eight weeks are exactly when Christmas birds are finished and moved.
Keep it in proportion. The GOV.UK latest situation page, updated on 21 October, puts the risk to poultry at low where biosecurity is poor and very low where it is stringent and consistent. A handful of cases is not a supply crisis. GB has lost its bird-flu-free status though, and the zones bring legal restrictions on poultry movements and extra paperwork for anyone inside them. If all your Christmas turkeys come from one farm, that’s a single point of failure.
What I’d do this week: confirm turkey and goose numbers with your suppliers and ask what their fallback is if a zone lands on them. If you collect birds from farms yourself, treat the van as part of their biosecurity: arrive clean, stick to one site per trip where you can, wash and disinfect the load area and wheel arches between visits, and keep boots and overalls for that job only. Check GOV.UK or gov.scot before each farm run, because restrictions apply the day they’re declared.
Now the van side. Every December we get calls for a second van or a bigger one for the extra rounds, and by then it’s too late to have it converted and on the road before the rush. If you need more chiller space for whole birds, or electric standby to hold stock in the shop yard overnight, get the order in now. A chiller that holds 0 to 5°C with the doors going all day is what the week before Christmas asks of a van.
Quick checklist
- Confirm Christmas turkey and goose numbers with your suppliers this week.
- Ask each supplier what their fallback is if a control zone lands on them.
- Collecting birds yourself? Wash and disinfect load area and wheel arches between farms.
- Check GOV.UK and gov.scot for new zones before each farm run.
- Order a second or bigger van now to have it on the road before December.
Also in the news
- Diesel is still just under £2 a litre: around 198p on 1 November, flat on the week and only a touch below the £2 record set in early October. Source
If the Christmas rounds need more chiller space or a second van, these are the ones I’d look at first, and each is converted and checked before delivery.
- 2026 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 315CDI L3H2 PRO Cancelled Order Refrigerated Chiller Van: £50,995 +VAT
- 2026 Ford Transit 350 Trend L3H3 Refrigerated Chiller Van: £42,995 +VAT
- 2024 24 Reg Ford Transit Connect L2 Limited Refrigerated Chiller Van: £22,995 +VAT
See all our fridge vans for butchers
Call us on 01444 245555 to talk it through.
Sources: Bird flu hits Scottish Borders farm as 10km restriction zone imposed – FarmingUK News, Bird flu (avian influenza): latest situation in England – GOV.UK, UK records first bird flu outbreak of the season – Farmers Weekly, First commercial bird flu case of the season confirmed, Petrol fell 1.4p and diesel fell 0.3p in the week to 1 November 2026, Avian influenza (bird flu) outbreaks – gov.scot
