Just heard about all this an hour ago. I have two free-range chickens in my back garden. They live in a Forsham Ark but I let them out every morning around 8.30 - 9am and they put themselves to bed around 4pm at the moment.
There have been rare occasions where I am away from home for a couple of days and at first I kept them in the Ark but even after a couple of days of being cooped up they were having behavioural issues and started pecking at each other.
Although they are quite placid, If I keep them cooped up for 30 days, well, they're not going to last that long, they are going to kill each other.
It is not fair nor right to keep them cooped up. I've just ordered some sparrow proof netting (19mm mesh size) from pestfix (an expense I can barely afford) and will construct a temporary run for them. I'll also remove the wild bird seed feeder from the garden in order to reduce the desire for them to come into the garden. I realise that wild birds will be able to poo through the netting, but there's little I can do about that - where I live (open countryside) we have high winds so a tarp roof to the temp run is not possible and I don't have the money or ability to construct a more permanent roofed structure.
I wonder how the shops will label their goods at such short notice
Due to it being a legal requirement beyond the control of the poultry owners it does not affect labeling requirements or egg classes. 'Free range' eggs can still be classed as free range if they met the free range requirements prior to the prevention zone order.
Ali.