Efforts to eradicate a massive outbreak of bird flu are in danger of 'eradicating' the poultry industry, leading farmers have warned the government.

Hundreds of thousands of commercial birds have been culled as a result of the nation's worst-ever epidemic of avian influenza - with many disease hotspots in Norfolk and Suffolk.

Chief vets have enforced a mandatory housing order to bring all birds indoors, and the government offered a support package in October which includes allowing farmers to be paid compensation from the outset of planned culling rather than at the end, to "help stem any cash flow pressures".

Marketing rules were also eased to allow farmers who breed turkeys, geese or ducks for meat the option to slaughter their flocks early and to freeze these products, which can then be defrosted and sold to consumers between November 28 and December 31.

But calls have been made for faster and retrospective compensation for the culling of flocks, an urgent review of shutdown periods for affected farms, and an extension of the derogation allowing for turkeys, ducks and geese to be defrosted - while some smaller producers said they do not have the freezer capacity to do this.

“They are trying to eradicate the disease and they are actually eradicating the poultry industry", said Fabian Eagle, a Swaffham poultry auctioneer and Norfolk County Council’s member champion for the rural economy.

Industry leaders taking part in a meeting of the Norfolk and Suffolk Poultry Group, chaired by New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) chief executive Chris Starkie, also voiced frustration that environment secretary Thérèse Coffey had not acknowledged a letter calling for her department to provide more support.

Máire Burnett, technical director at the British Poultry Council, said there had been 136 cases since October 1 and, although the frequency had fallen in recent weeks, there remained the risk of another peak during December as the migratory bird season was not over. “Biosecurity is still the key message,” she said.

It comes after consumers were warned of a "big, big shortage" of British free-range turkeys this Christmas - with half already dead due to bird flu.

Half of the 1.2m free-range turkeys produced for Christmas in the UK have already been killed in the bird flu epidemic, British Poultry Council chief executive Richard Griffiths told the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

A Defra spokesman said: "We have taken decisive action to tackle this disease and have worked closely with farmers to put infection control measures in place to limit the risk of it spreading further. Outbreak numbers have levelled off in recent weeks suggesting that the recent housing orders are starting to have an impact.

"Sadly, approximately 1.4 million turkeys, some of which are free range, have been culled, but around 11 million turkeys are produced in the UK every year, meaning that there will still be a good supply of Christmas turkeys."