A CULL of chickens at a second poultry farm affected by bird flu was under way as experts battle to prevent the disease from spreading.

The slaughter comes after the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announced that two poultry farms around the one already affected near Dereham, Norfolk, had become infected with avian flu.

Workers began the cull of around 7,500 chickens at Norwich Road Farm in North Tuddenham, while experts arrived to conduct further tests at Mowles Manor Poultry Unit in the same village, which is home to about the same number of birds.

Defra said the results of preliminary tests show that both farms have been affected by the less serious H7N3 strain of bird flu, but further tests are being carried out by the Veterinary Laboratories Agency.

On Saturday night workers completed a cull of 35,000 chickens at nearby Witford Lodge Farm at Hockering, where an outbreak of the H7 strain was confirmed on Friday.