My wife used to keep a couple of hundred free-range hens in a bid to boost her meagre housekeeping allowance. Try as she might, and despite kidding herself otherwise, those hens never made a penny profit after all the hard work and expenses were properly accounted for.

They had to be fed first thing in the morning when the henhouses were opened up to allow them out to forage. Later in the day the eggs had to be collected and any dirty ones cleaned, and then they had to be shut in at dusk to protect them from foxes. Once a week the henhouses had to be cleaned out, and there was also the weekly ritual of doing the "egg run" when the week's production was sold to shops and private customers.

Apart from all the work involved, small-scale poultry keeping doesn't stack up financially because the purchase price of the point-of-lay pullets and feed is far too high compared to large-scale operations where bulk buying leads to substantial savings.

Despite the cost of producing them, you can't whack a couple of fresh, free-range eggs for breakfast, with their huge, dark orange yolks that put ordinary shop eggs to shame. My wife also swore by them for baking, as her sponge cakes rose better with a nice, creamy-yellow colour.

The introduction of an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) on 6th December 2016 brought in measures to protect UK poultry flocks from the risk of highly pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N8 (AI) which is circulating in wild birds (particularly wild water fowl) across Europe. This strain of bird flu does not pose a food safety risk for UK consumers.

The AIPZ made it compulsory to house (or have clear separation from wild birds where this is not practical) poultry (commercial, backyard and captive birds) for a period of 30 days. This was subsequently extended to 28th February 2017 (tomorrow) as the risk level was deemed not to have reduced.

Now the AIPZ in Scotland is to be extended to the end of April, with optional exceptions for free range poultry that will be allowed outside from Wednesday (1 March) with additional biosecurity measures to minimise contact with wild birds, such as covering their range with netting.

Terms such as extensive indoor (barn), free-range or traditional free-range are marketing terms defined by an EU Regulation. Slow growing breeds of birds are reared for a longer period of time (typically 56 days for chicken) at a lower stocking density and have daytime access to open-air runs for a fixed period during their lives.

Producers can only use the special marketing terms if they meet the criteria laid down in the legislation. Government officials carry out regular checks to ensure compliance.

Under the EU egg marketing rules for free-range hens there is a derogation which allows birds to be housed for up to 12 weeks without the loss of their free-range status. As the birds have been housed since December and the 12-week period comes to an end tomorrow (28 February) their eggs could no longer have been marketed as free-range if they hadn't been allowed back out-of-doors.

That leaves free-range egg producers with a difficult decision to make. Margins are currently very tight with feed costs up by more than £40 per tonne on the year and eggs fetching the same price as this time last year. If they decide not to allow their hens back outside and run the risk of them catching AI, they face losing at least 20p per dozen on their egg price as a consequence of losing their free-range status. Then again they could let them out and keep their fingers crossed - not an easy decision.

Apart from delicious free range eggs my wife's small flock produced an annual crop of spent hens, or boiling fowl that made the best soup.

Egg producers used to get about 50p each for their spent hens, but due to export restrictions as a result of AI they are now worthless. The annual cull of 32m hens from the UK's egg-laying flock is mostly handled by 6 big processors south-of-the-border, who cut off their legs before removing the rest of the flesh for further processing.

Those legs are boxed, frozen and exported to west Africa, and while there isn't an official ban on imports from the UK traders are refusing to handle them which has led to a stockpile.