Avian Flu/Biosecurity Best Practices

[saysfaa]

We've been talking about that and trying to figure out logistics. The way we are set-up, there is a lot of in and out of the run during chores 2x/day (e.g., dump old water, scoop soiled bedding and dump in compost pile, etc.). Presumably, the show covers should come off when leaving the run and go back on when entering the run. Then we were wondering about feces on the boots that are then transferred to the inside of the show covers. Every protocol feels like a rabbit hole!

Possibly, rethink the process of your chores to make fewer trips in/out. A wheel barrow or muck bucket or even a pile on a piece of plywood for the litter and a small bucket for the old water placed just outside the door to collect everything that will go out.

It doesn't matter if there is feces inside the shoe covers as long as it is only from inside that coop.

It really is doable, it just feels really awkward until you are used to doing it and develop the muscle memory for doing it. It helps to think everything out deliberately, then apply it slowly and deliberately at first. It is the same type of thing medical people do for sterile fields or isolation rooms.

 

[3bird]

Possibly, rethink the process of your chores to make fewer trips in/out. A wheel barrow or muck bucket or even a pile on a piece of plywood for the litter and a small bucket for the old water placed just outside the door to collect everything that will go out.

It doesn't matter if there is feces inside the shoe covers as long as it is only from inside that coop.

It really is doable, it just feels really awkward until you are used to doing it and develop the muscle memory for doing it. It helps to think everything out deliberately, then apply it slowly and deliberately at first. It is the same type of thing medical people do for sterile fields or isolation rooms.

Yes! It's certainly doable, and we are rethinking it all. I've spend a lot of time in biosecure labs, so I get the muscle memory thing. The chores part is not difficult to figure out, but it takes planning. I'm still stuck on the shoe cover thing. The issue is the boots themselves being the vector and introducing pathogen to the inside of the shoe covers. We need to figure that one out.

 

[saysfaa]

Yes! It's certainly doable, and we are rethinking it all. I've spend a lot of time in biosecure labs, so I get the muscle memory thing. The chores part is not difficult to figure out, but it takes planning. I'm still stuck on the shoe cover thing. The issue is the boots themselves being the vector and introducing pathogen to the inside of the shoe covers. We need to figure that one out.

Oh, you totally know how to figure it out!

And I said it backwards - the inside of the boot covers would be not - coop.

 

[3bird]

Oh, you totally know how to figure it out!

And I said it backwards - the inside of the boot covers would be not - coop.

Yes, but that's my point. Without washing the boots before putting on the show covers and entering the run, you are potentially introducing contaminated matter to the inside of the shoe covers. Acceptable risk? Maybe.

 

[saysfaa]

Why does it matter if the insides of the covers are contaminated? The inside of the covers won't touch the contents of the coop you are protecting

 

[3bird]

Why does it matter if the insides of the covers are contaminated? The inside of the covers won't touch the contents of the coop you are protecting

We're getting into the minutia now, which I actually find interesting! Are you talking about disposable show covers? One and done?

 

[saysfaa]

They make one-time-use versions (which could be used more than once probably but won't stand up to very many uses) and reusable versions. Probably old fashioned rubbers would work too.

 

[3bird]

They make one-time-use versions (which could be used more than once probably but won't stand up to very many uses) and reusable versions. Probably old fashioned rubbers would work too.

Yes. I understand what they are. The reality is that the risk may be low enough to make this a viable protocol, but unless you are using "one and done" ones, the shoe covers don't really eliminate the biosecurity protocol of washing and disinfecting boots, do they? If you are putting them on upon entering the run and then taking them off when you exit the run and throwing them away, that may be viable. Otherwise, you now have potentially contaminated matter inside the reusable shoe cover. How and where do you store the shoe cover? How do you put it on and take it off, making sure that none of the contaminated matter on the inside falls out or is transferred to the outside of the cover? Again, the risk may be small enough to make this protocol viable for the backyard flock, but it doesn't really remove the risk in the same way that the standard protocol of washing and disinfecting does. I'm definitely NOT trying to be difficult! ;-) We've just been talking through all this scenarios in order to make the best decisions in the interest of our animals' health. Thank you for your help!

 

[saysfaa]

... Otherwise, you now have potentially contaminated matter inside the reusable shoe cover. How and where do you store the shoe cover? How do you put it on and take it off, making sure that none of the contaminated matter on the inside falls out or is transferred to the outside of the cover?

I'm sorry but I don't understand the problem. Yes, the insides of the shoe covers are contaminated. I would store them, insides still dirty, in a shoe box (or tote or bucket) so that only the outside touches the shoe box. And keep the shoe box beside the outermost door to the coop.

I would put them on and take them off by sitting on a chair that is in the door to my shed so my feet are outside the coop. If I didn't have an inside door so I could do that without the chickens getting out, I sit on a chair just outside the coop. Or lean against the side of the coop if I had fewer back issues.

If changing outside, I'd probably need a puppy pad or plastic grocery bag or board or something as a clean mat because I'm not agile enough anymore to keep chickens in while keeping one foot from stepping outside while I change the other foot. A board is probably easiest, tip the board, clean side down, to lean against the outside of the coop when not being used.

Or carry a bucket of disinfectant solution out to pour into your foot tray. It won't freeze too fast to be usable.

 

[Dandichook]

Goodness, this is alarming! Thanks for sharing all this info.

We are in FL and are preparing to bring in hatching quail eggs to get a covey going. Our plan is to have the pens outdoors on the ground with a solid roof and 1/4" hardware cloth. That should be plenty to keep the wild birds off, but we haven't built those yet, and our yard is both very prolific in terms of wild birds (a mated pair of hawks lives and hunts near/in the yard, a mockingbird pair has a nest in one of our bushes, songbirds are everywhere, and a flyway for Canada geese (which are permanent residents here, not just migratory) and wild ducks between where they sleep at night and their grazing area/pond is literally right over our backyard. Nothing can prevent them from pooping into the yard while they fly over!) So I am worried about biosecurity of the ground we plan to build on before we have the coops built.

How long do we need to wait between building the coops (making the ground inaccessible to wild birds and their droppings) and putting our quail into them? Or is that not really a concern? Any advice on how to make sure the quail chicks will be safe once we transfer them to the coops?

We are not in a county where AI has been found, but given flyway patterns, it's best to assume it will be here if it isn't already.

I appreciate any advice!!