Avian Flu - Washington State

[Wisher1000]

Thank you, Niman, I couldn't have said it better, myself.

I understand loving your birds. I love mine. I understand the heartbreak of culling an entire flock that you have worked for years, and raised to the point that you are finally where you want to be with them (I've done it.) Part of being a responsible person is to realize that there is a "greater good" that is more important than your own feelings or your own birds. I culled my entire flock of "egg birds" (BCMs with dark, dark chocolate egg colors, EEs with very nice, blue eggs, and F1 OEs that were set to produce some fine dark olive green egg layers the next season. I did this for you. I did it first for my other flock of heritage Campines, then for my neighbors, then for the commercial farmers that depend on their flocks to put food on their family's table, and for all other poultry keepers (you.) Did it hurt? Yes. Did I cry? Yes. Do I still miss them and mourn the lost work I put into them? No doubt, but I would do it again, ESPECIALLY if they tested positive for AI.

Here in Alabama, AI testing is part of NPIP and is done free of charge. I am grateful to all the responsible poultry keepers that participate. Thanks to NPIP, Pullorium is well on it's way to be eliminated. Avian Influenza is worse, and needs to be targeted as severely as Pullorium.

 

[niman]

Thank you, Niman, I couldn't have said it better, myself.

I understand loving your birds. I love mine. I understand the heartbreak of culling an entire flock that you have worked for years, and raised to the point that you are finally where you want to be with them (I've done it.) Part of being a responsible person is to realize that there is a "greater good" that is more important than your own feelings or your own birds. I culled my entire flock of "egg birds" (BCMs with dark, dark chocolate egg colors, EEs with very nice, blue eggs, and F1 OEs that were set to produce some fine dark olive green egg layers the next season. I did this for you. I did it first for my other flock of heritage Campines, then for my neighbors, then for the commercial farmers that depend on their flocks to put food on their family's table, and for all other poultry keepers (you.) Did it hurt? Yes. Did I cry? Yes. Do I still miss them and mourn the lost work I put into them? No doubt, but I would do it again, ESPECIALLY if they tested positive for AI.

Here in Alabama, AI testing is part of NPIP and is done free of charge. I am grateful to all the responsible poultry keepers that participate. Thanks to NPIP, Pullorium is well on it's way to be eliminated. Avian Influenza is worse, and needs to be targeted as severely as Pullorium.

Although reporting and culling of H5 and H7 has been mandatory for several years. the Fujian H5 is a game changer for North America because even if H5 is removed from the ground, it is still flying around in wild birds and needs no further genetic change to cause devastating outbreaks (and has never been previously reported in NA.

 

[enola]

There is no way to have an anonymous test done on your flock for flu. If a flock is found to have Avian Influenza, USDA will be contacted by the vet. The flock will be confiscated, there is nothing the owner can do.

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I am not positive, but I think when AI is found in a flock, neighboring flocks are tested by USDA. If influenza is found, the quarantine area is enlarged/shifted, and all contaminated flocks are destroyed.

Flock owners do not get options to sacrifice their flock or not.

 

[Wisher1000]

Nor should they.

 

[niman]

Nor should they.

H5N8 confirmed in Butte County, California - fills Pacific Flyway

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01061501/H5N8_Fujian_Flyway.html

 

[Wisher1000]

That's scary stuff, from an interesting website. I am near the Mississippi flyway and will be more diligent in checking my own birds. I will be requesting that I get a mid year check in addition to the annual one I get now. I don't know if they will do it for free, but I am willing to pay for it, within reason.

I hope my comments here are not being interpreted as argumentative. I am only touting the importance of individual responsibility when it comes to controlling diseases that can affect us all. Much more good comes from having the information/facts as to what is happening in our birds, both wild and domestic, than from hiding, covering up, and maintaining infected birds.

 

[niman]

Benton City, Washington sero-type is H5N2.

 

[Runamuckranch1]

What are the symptoms? I am losing one chicken per week.

 

[niman]

What are the symptoms? I am losing one chicken per week.

High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza Viruses

Even in the absence of secondary pathogens, HP AI viruses cause severe, systemic disease with high mortality in chickens, turkeys, and other gallinaceous poultry; mortality can be as high as 100% in a few days. In peracute cases, clinical signs or gross lesions may be lacking before death. However, in acute cases, lesions may include cyanosis and edema of the head, comb, wattle, and snood (turkey); edema and red discoloration of the shanks and feet due to subcutaneous ecchymotic hemorrhages; petechial hemorrhages on visceral organs and in muscles; and blood-tinged oral and nasal discharges. In severely affected birds, greenish diarrhea is common. Birds that survive the peracute infection may develop CNS involvement evident as torticollis, opisthotonos, incoordination, paralysis, and drooping wings. The location and severity of microscopic lesions are highly variable and may consist of edema, hemorrhage, and necrosis in parenchymal cells of multiple visceral organs, skin, and CNS.

http://www.merckmanuals.com/vet/poultry/avian_influenza/overview_of_avian_influenza.html

 

[niman]

H5N2 in two farms near Benton City, Washington - 150 mostly turkeys on one farm, 500 ducks on other farm

http://www.recombinomics.com/News/01061502/H5N2_Fujian_Benton.html