Bird flu has been identified on an egg farm in Terschuur in the Gelderse Vallei, one of the centres of the Dutch poultry industry, the farm ministry confirmed on Tuesday.

All 62,000 layer hens on the farm will be killed and a ban on moving hens and eggs in the area around the farm has been imposed. There are 182 poultry farms within a 10-kilometre radius of the affected farm.

Bird flu has been identified at several farms, a pheasant breeder and a petting zoo in recent weeks, and hundreds of thousands of birds have been culled in an effort to stop the disease spreading.

On October 16, the farm ministry ordered that all farmed birds be kept indoors to prevent potential exposure to the virus, which is also spread by wild birds. The previous indoor order ended in July.