Portugal Orders Poultry Indoors Amid H5N1 Surge, Cancels Christmas Bird Fairs

Portugal’s veterinary authority has pulled the emergency brake on the country’s poultry sector. A fresh wave of high-pathogenic avian influenza detections, most of them the H5N1 subtype, has convinced officials that keeping birds indoors is the only way to curb what they describe as an “extremely elevated risk” of contagion.

A rapid escalation that left no alternative

The string of outbreaks confirmed after mid-November, including clusters in Torres Vedras, Santarém and coastal Aveiro, pressured the Direção-Geral de Alimentação e Veterinária into activating its strictest rulebook. All domestic birds—from backyard chickens to large commercial flocks—must now remain under a roof, shielded from contact with potentially infected migratory wildfowl. The order coincided with the publication of Edict 38, which formalises a country-wide preventive quarantine and underscores that Portugal has logged 39 outbreaks since January, the overwhelming majority linked to H5N1.

A blow to producers in a bruising year

For farmers already facing cost inflation, the compulsory confinement of birds piles on new expenses: enclosed housing must be reinforced, feed has to be stored indoors and farm entrances require upgraded disinfection barriers. The duck-meat industry, which had forecast an 8-10 % slump for 2025 after earlier incidents, now braces for even steeper losses. Local councils have begun receiving calls from smallholders worried about lost sales at Christmas markets. So far, the government has not outlined any compensation mechanism, heightening frustration in rural co-operatives that rely on festive poultry demand.

Public gatherings go silent

Portugal’s popular winter fairs—such as the cancelled Avisan showcase in Santarém—have been struck off the calendar. Under the new regime, feathered livestock and their by-products cannot travel in or out of designated protection and surveillance zones, which stretch 3 km and 10 km around every infected holding. Fresh meat, table eggs and even manure are caught by the ban. Organisers who ignore the decree risk stiff penalties, the DGAV warns, adding that “all breaches will be punished” while the virus threat remains at what the European Food Safety Authority calls its highest level since records began in 2016.

Why the timing matters for Portugal

The clamp-down lands just as tens of thousands of geese and ducks follow the Atlantic migratory corridor toward the Tejo and Sado estuaries. Wild bird monitoring stations have reported what scientists term an unprecedented viral load in carcasses recovered along the coastline. Epidemiologists at Lisbon’s University of Veterinary Medicine argue that keeping domestic birds indoors during this migration peak is the single most effective shield against spill-over, because the virus spreads through contaminated droppings that can survive for days in damp winter conditions.

What backyard keepers need to remember now

Authorities insist that simple practices—such as segregating footwear used inside coops, storing feed and litter under cover, disinfecting tools and limiting vehicle access—will decide whether the latest order succeeds. Any sign of unexplained mortality, sudden drop in egg production or respiratory distress must be reported to regional veterinary teams without delay. The DGAV also urges residents not to feed wild birds in public parks, stressing that even indirect contact, for example via shared water sources, can ignite new infection chains.

Veterinary services plan to review the nationwide quarantine once the main migration window closes early next year. Until then, the message is clear: confinement first, Christmas turkeys later.