HEADS UP AVIAN INFLUENZA ALERT

[chicknmania]

seriously? bio terrorists? I'm sure they have much more dire plans in mind than causing a shortage in our egg supply... if it were bio terrorists they sure picked a dumb food source to go after... why chickens and eggs? it would have made much more sense to go after beef if they wanted to hurt us
seriously... I'm just waiting for someone to blame it on aliens next

maybe we should stop looking to blame somebody else when we should be placing the blame squarly on the shoulders of the cause.. namely ourselves and our turning a blind eye to how battery farms have operated all these years

WEll, why not? Beef has already taken a hit, in case you haven't noticed. And egg prices are skyrocketing. Chicken and eggs are a major food source for the US, fyi. Terrorism or malicious intent is certainly not out of the question. Maybe they are not trying to destroy us, but it could be anyone doing it for whatever reason. There are tons of weirdos out there, in case you don't follow the news.

AND let's keep it friendly, ok? Everyone is entitled to their opinion, AND....it's been clearly stated in the news that the government is BAFFLED as to why and how this is spreading. Do we know more than them???? Maybe, maybe not. If they are baffled though...that means that there's just possibly a little more to it than battery farms and one germ getting in.

 

[chicknmania]

and there's some stuff that just doesn't make sense, on top of what already doesn't make sense....

If AI kills that quickly, why would the USDA bother to go around testing backyard flocks? They wouldn't need to, would they? Except in cases where there are waterfowl. Testing chickens makes no sense, because any responsible owner is going to be contacting them anyway if they have multiple dead birds, and even if they don't contact them, the birds would most likely be dead anyway before the USDA even got there. So what is the sense of testing?

Secondly this is maddening. We need some more hens. But we're terrified to get them from anywhere we don't know, especially out of State. Even Mt Healthy (who supplies a lot of Ohio) breeds theirs in Indiana...sigh. So.....I can't go up the road to buy some from a breeder because they're afraid to sell them to me, and vice versa. And we have nowhere now to unload our excess roosters or peafowl, except at the meat processors..(shudder).

If this never goes away....and it probably will not...what will happen to us? WE're already in a state of terror, see? We can't move. No more poultry events, no more moving of poultry, and honestly I'm even afraid to take ours to the meat processor because of the possibility of AI contamination there.

This sucks. REALLY.

 

[MysteriaSdrassa]

You are right,, it does suck and it sucks HARD. I worry about my flock every day. With over 150 free-ranging laying hens in a 2 acre pasture, that is quite a substantial investment. I am well aware of the risks and dangers and it is a risk that I choose to accept. If we allow ourselves to believe that this is somehow a terrorist threat,, either real or assumed,, then they have already won,,, perhaps without even lifting a finger if it turns out it was all just mother nature running it's course and telling us perhaps we shouldn't be treating our food the way we do. And that,, is MY opinion,, whether anyone chooses to agree with it or not is of no consequence. It doesn't make them a "Hillbilly" if they do not think the way I do nor is it a personal attack on anyone. As stated, everyone has a right to speak their mind,, I have spoken mine.

 

[TXchickenchick]

You are right,, it does suck and it sucks HARD. I worry about my flock every day. With over 150 free-ranging laying hens in a 2 acre pasture, that is quite a substantial investment. I am well aware of the risks and dangers and it is a risk that I choose to accept. If we allow ourselves to believe that this is somehow a terrorist threat,, either real or assumed,, then they have already won,,, perhaps without even lifting a finger if it turns out it was all just mother nature running it's course and telling us perhaps we shouldn't be treating our food the way we do. And that,, is MY opinion,, whether anyone chooses to agree with it or not is of no consequence. It doesn't make them a "Hillbilly" if they do not think the way I do nor is it a personal attack on anyone. As stated, everyone has a right to speak their mind,, I have spoken mine.

I never insinuated your opinion was wrong. Perhaps it isn't. Your snarky comments about aliens and such, on the other hand, were. I think we have lost when we fail to examine EVERY possibility. Does it mean we go into panic assuming this was deliberate? Absolutely not. It does mean, however, we don't discount a very real possibility until we really KNOW how this is happening.

As for the damage being caused by the commercial food industry, I am willing to bet most members here are aware of that, at least more than a good portion of the general public. Most on here are at least trying to do their part to help eliminate (or at least weaken) that impact.

 

[thegawd]

http://m.tucson.com/news/blogs/bird...11e5-93ad-0f4f808e1199.html?mobile_touch=true


here's a farm that tested positive which has shipped eggs and birds to 75% of the U.S. spreading the virus to states that didnt have it.

and for the record Aliens are real ;-)

stay safe.

 

[MysteriaSdrassa]

And again.. my comment about aliens was not meant to be "snarky". I happen to very much believe in the possibility that they DO exist. And no I am not a crackpot because I choose to do so. My statement stands that if this is something other than mother nature running it's course (with the help of man)... that bio terrorism and aliens would be pretty far down on the list

 

[enola]

It's OK with the rest of us if you keep the aliens at your place.

 

[thegawd]

anyone following this thread... https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/990599/destruction-and-disposal-orders-help they almost had there flock destroyed because they bought hatching eggs from an infected farm... this infected farm has sold hatching eggs and birds to 75% of the US, infecting states that didnt even have AI...

it can happen to anyone!

 

[keesmom]

anyone following this thread... https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/990599/destruction-and-disposal-orders-help they almost had there flock destroyed because they bought hatching eggs from an infected farm... this infected farm has sold hatching eggs and birds to 75% of the US, infecting states that didnt even have AI...

it can happen to anyone!

This is why I am not bringing in any outside hatching eggs this season.

 

[MrsBachbach]

just my opinion but before I would chalk it up to terrorists I would take a good hard look at where this is happening... battery farms where there are like 10,000 birds crammed in one building... stacked on top of each other 8 rows high the upper ones crap just falling onto the lower ones.. kept on tiny cages that are not even big enough for the bird to turn around.. these poor birds must already have compromised immune systems.. all it takes is one germ to get in and it is going to run thru there like wildfire... I know everybody knows about the bio security those places have but that mostly pertains to stuff being brought in by workers... believe me. .those buildings are by no means airtight.. there are huge intake vents and outflow fans in them to keep the air flowing.. one germ sucked in thru one of these and it's all over but the crying

I really think that's a big part of it right there. That and lack of genetic diversity. After all, they are carefully bred for laying and weight gain ability.