A total of 72,000 birds have culled at two north-east farms due to avian flu.
Farming union NFU Scotland revealed the birds had been destroyed within the past 10 days taking the total in Scotland to 104,000.
The farms involved are thought to be Woodhead of Laithers and Logie Newton Farm, both near Turriff.
Banff and Buchan MP David Duguid has described it as “absolutely devastating”.
Rationing eggs
The bird flu outbreak has led to millions of poultry and captive birds being culled throughout the UK this year as part of efforts to stop the disease from spreading.
It’s also putting pressure on supplies with Asda having to limit customers to two boxes of eggs each.
Since November 7 all poultry and captive birds in England must be kept indoors, but these strict rules have not been replicated in Scotland.
Mr Duguid has accused the Scottish Government of “hiding over the issue” after writing to rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon last month and receiving no reply.
‘Absolutely devastating’
He said: “The number of birds which have had to be culled in Aberdeenshire due to avian flu is absolutely devastating.
“This astronomical number highlights the worrying situation our poultry farmers are facing so close to Christmas with supermarkets locally already rationing eggs.
“The Scottish Government continue to be in hiding over the issue and are not prioritising the significant threat this disease poses to the industry despite growing fears from NFU Scotland.
“I wrote to the Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon last month outlining my concerns over the lack of action to tackle this urgent crisis but have still not received a response.
“If Scotland isn’t following the same housing rules as England then I want to know what the government is doing to prevent this spread which is continuing to escalate throughout our region.”
Facing a major crisis
NFU Scotland said it was also aware of three non-commercial outbreaks, two in Orkney and one on Lewis.
Robert Thompson of NFU Scotland’s poultry review working group, said the union had warned major retailers in spring about rising production costs and potential shortages.
He said: “It was well documented that we were facing a major crisis and that crisis has now happened.
“By February we reckon there will be 7.9 million less hens, so if you are out of eggs now they are going to be very scarce by spring.”
The Scottish Government said the disease was also affecting wild bird populations elsewhere in the world, and it had published updated advice on the reporting, collection and safe disposal of wild bird carcases.
