Concerns about your backyard chickens, eggs? Bendigo vet lays them to rest

At least seven Victorian farms were confirmed to have been affected by a strain of avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, including a duck farm in the Golden Plains Shire.

An egg farm in NSW entered quarantine on June 19 after the virus was detected.

Last week, Coles placed a temporary limit on egg purchases "to ensure eggs remain available" for customers.

But MyVet Strathfieldsaye veterinarian Dr Susan Bibby said she had several clients come in recently with concerns about their chickens and their eggs.

However, eggs and chicken products are safe and there was no need for alarm, the vet said

"Even though we've had outbreaks surveilling influenza at commercial properties, we've managed to control them very well," Dr Bibby said.

"The risk to people from eggs and egg products and chicken meat is negligible."

The influenza virus circulated in wild waterfowl, Dr Bibby said, and the best prevention for chicken owners was to keep the chickens away from wild birds and their droppings.

"The main wild birds to avoid are ducks, ducks tend to carry this virus," Dr Bibby said.

Chicken owners should continue to monitor their birds and look out for "respiratory disease, couching, sneezing and mortality".

MyVet Strathfieldsaye nurse Rebecca Bright, who owned five chickens, said backyard-chicken egg production was lower during the winter months.

Ms Bright said the chickens were locked away from wild animals and she had no concerns about the avian flu.

"Chickens are really calming creatures, they're a great pet," she said.

"They're not really much of an upkeep, you really just change their hay once once every month.

"You've got to feed them every day and just make sure that their pen's clean and they've got water."

Kean's Free Range Eggs farm, located near Huntly, had not been affected by the virus, however owner Harley Kean said the business was struggling to meet demand.

Mr Kean said when birds were euthanised at farms in Victoria, their demand increased.

"Our customers are extremely busy," he said.

"There's been a bit of panic buying, which has created a bit of a lot more demand in the last two weeks."

The farm had restricted traffic to the farm and movement of contractors as a precaution, Mr Kean said.

The egg farmer was hopeful the virus would be contained to the Golden Plains Shire.

Dr Bibby said the standard of biosecurity at local commercial farms was "very high".

"We've dealt with a number of these outbreaks over many, many years in Australia, all very successfully, so at the moment the risk is low," she said.