diff --git a/pkgs/servers/bird/default.nix b/pkgs/servers/bird/default.nix
index 574f372a7f2..3180238c618 100644
--- a/pkgs/servers/bird/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/servers/bird/default.nix
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, flex, bison, readline }:
+{ stdenv, fetchurl, flex, bison, readline
+, enableIPv6 ? false }:
 
 stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
   name = "bird-1.6.0";
@@ -16,7 +17,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation rec {
 
   configureFlags = [
     "--localstatedir /var"
-  ];
+  ] ++ stdenv.lib.optional enableIPv6 "--enable-ipv6";
 
   meta = {
     description = "BIRD Internet Routing Daemon";
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index 63df5b3cce8..1b32b3b1c12 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -9871,6 +9871,7 @@ in
   bind = callPackage ../servers/dns/bind { };
 
   bird = callPackage ../servers/bird { };
+  bird6 = bird.override { enableIPv6 = true; };
 
   bosun = (callPackage ../servers/monitoring/bosun { }).bin // { outputs = [ "bin" ]; };
   scollector = bosun;