A company has been fined 拢44,000 after more than 27,000 chicken died due to overheating in a chicken shed it was looking after.
Leicestershire County Council鈥檚 Trading Standards Service said the birds died after a computerised ventilation system went wrong, causing the temperature to rise dramatically.
Officers prosecuted Hudson & Sanders Limited following the incident at the farm near Melton Mowbray.
Trading Standards said the firm pleaded guilty to four charges under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 in a hearing at Leicester Magistrates Court.
A county council spokesman said: 鈥淪ome 50,000 chickens were being kept in a large shed at Hose Lodge Farm in Colston Bassett when, on May 26, 2020, the systems that regulated air flow, vital for the welfare of the chickens, failed.
鈥淭he court heard that inlets on the side of the building closed during a rest period for the birds in the afternoon, but another tunnel ventilation system failed to open creating a sealed unit.
鈥淥n what was a warm day, the temperature within the shed rose rapidly.
鈥淭he birds could not cool down because of the ventilation failure, causing them heat stress, suffering and death.
鈥淎n alarm sounded when the temperature rose to 37C and staff were alerted, but council investigators said that should have been set to go off at 27C.
鈥淎t the time of the incident, the farm manager was on leave but still attended as he lived on the site.
鈥淎 relief manager provided by Hudson & Sanders Limited, had left the site to take a break when the incident occurred.
鈥淏y the time staff were able to get into the shed 27,249 of the chickens had died.鈥
In mitigation, solicitors for the defendant said the company, which managed the poultry operation on behalf of the farm鈥檚 owner, regretted what had happened.
The council said it prosecuted Hudson & Sanders Limited for being negligent in its care of the birds, which were being farmed for their meat.
Trading standards also said the company had failed to ensure there were enough staff to look after the chickens and those that were there were not trained to the level they needed to be, which led to a situation where they didn鈥檛 know what to do in time.
The county council argued the offence was aggravated because an Animal and Plant Health Agency vet had visited the farm the previous November and raised concerns about there not being enough staff or a ventilation plan.
The council said District Judge Nick Watson described the May 26 incident as 鈥渁 disaster鈥 and said even the birds that survived would have suffered.
On top of the 拢44,000 fine he ordered it to pay the county council鈥檚 costs of 拢12,634.83.
The court heard Hudson & Sanders Limited had no previous conviction for animal welfare offences and had an otherwise excellent reputation in the industry.
After the hearing, the county council鈥檚 head of regulatory services Gary Connors said: 鈥淭his was an awful but thankfully rare incident in terms of the scale of unnecessary suffering.
鈥淗owever, we hope the level of fine prompts businesses operating in this sector to review their operations to ensure they have adequate staffing and procedures in place to avoid such a distressing incident happening again.鈥
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