Some 23,000 chickens will have to be slaughtered after an outbreak of bird flu was confirmed at a broiler farm in Ede.

A 10-kilometre exclusion zone has been set up around the premises to contain the infection, banning the transport of poultry from around 130 businesses.

The agriculture ministry said eight other farms within 3km of the outbreak would be inspected for the presence of the virus.

So far this winter dozens of outbreaks have been confirmed and more than two million animals have been culled.

A nationwide ban on letting chickens outside was imposed in October following an early outbreak in the Drenthe village of Gasselternijveenschemond. In December eight kittens died after being infected with bird flu on a goat farm.