Avian influenza found in South Carolina

[Folly's place]

Just saw on the USDA website today, found in a widgeon (duck?) . Look it up on their site, not good news.
Mary

 

[U_Stormcrow]

As a courtesy to our fellow posters - LINKS!

USDA APHIS (General Info)

USDA Newsroom Article

CDC (General Info) The CDC has not yet updated its page - and may not - to reflect the USDA finding unless it becomes more widespread.

Rueters (the news source for most US news sources...)

 

[h2oratt]

Just saw on the USDA website today, found in a widgeon (duck?) . Look it up on their site, not good news.
Mary

Yeah it wasn’t pretty in california. They just come in a kill all your birds.

 

[RoyalChick]

This thread has been a great source of knowledge sharing in AI.
I have learned a lot and it is helping me manage my flock through this time.
Could we keep it that way and not turn it into a Covid thread?

 

[Mrs J]

We had a 79 yr old man from Devon test positive for bird flu, the H5N1 strain. It is very rare for that to happen, he had his 20 ducks living inside his home.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Thank you for these links. They were helpful. I've bookmarked to read through them again in the morning. Thank you again

I ain't good for much, but I know how to troll the web, and i can link like a master

 

[Mrs J]

In my personal opinion, 20 is a huge difference to 1 or even 3. I just can't imagine 20, unless he had a basement or something like that. I've had to keep my youngest 3 in the bathroom before. They are little Call Ducks, but still messy little girls that can send poop and wet mushy food flying in places that will surprise anyone! I was reading a post here on BYC not too long ago where a lady had fixed up her basement to let her ducks to stay in there. She had a drain in the floor to wash away any poop or soggy food (although it's about the same thing when talking ducks ). That doesn't seem as bad to me, but I haven't experienced it or cleaned up after them. 20 ducks seems excessive but I guess it depends. There are some massive homes and some have separate wings or a basement, but still 20 ducks is a lot to clean up after. I wonder if he moved them indoors in hopes of protecting them from the AI? That's just so sad and crazy that that strain killed him. If I had a basement like that, I don't know if I could handle my 17 ducks and even more chickens. Either way, sounds like there's no way around this, only through it.

@3KillerBs did you see that it's now been discovered in NC

He was very lonely and ended up taking them inside. It’s so sad! Good news is he has fully recovered

Such a sad story! They have been culled and he has been banned from keeping ducks for 12 months. He’s heartbroken

 

[Folly's place]

So they mentioned that they will be hatching eggs from that farm, probably from before this disaster. Saving breeding lines at least, good for them.
Mary

 

[Iluveggers]

Holy crap. I am almost in tears. I cannot believe how horrible this is. Here are the breeds showing as unavailable for the rest of the year at McMurray. Cockerels also, which makes me think they are part of the affected breeding stock. A few popular breeds always have roosters available.

Black Cochin
Black Langshan
Blue Cochin
Blue Laced Red Wyandotte
Buff Brahma
Buff Cochin
Buff Laced Polish
Buff Mincora
Buff Rock
Buttercup
Crevecoeur
Dark Beahma
Dark Cornish
Dominique
Dorking
Egyptian Fayoumi
Salmon Faverolles
FBC Marans
Gold Campine
Gold Penciled Hamburg
Gold Polish
Houdan
Lakenvelder
Light Brahma
Modern BB Red Game
Partridge Cochin
Red Leghorn
Silver Laced Cochin
Silver Phoenix
Silver Penciled Rock
Silver Polish
Sultan
Sumatra
Speckled Sussex
White Cochin
White Created Black Polish
White Faced Black Spanish
White Jersey Giant
White Laced Red Cornish
White Orpington
Yokohama

Feather Footed Fancies Special
Top Hat Special
Rare Breed Special
Rarest of Rare Special
Ornamental Layer Special
Collection Cockerels Special

All of their straight run breeds are sold out also, but they have low availability of those so it might not be related.

I did not check Bantams, but I would guess any top hat or feather feet would have been at the same breeder site. Wow. I’m speechless. How terrible.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

As BYC is not the place to discuss politics, I'm not going to engage - except to observe that the very very very very vast majority of culled birds have been in commercial flocks, not back yard producers, or owners of vanity flocks. As was the case for Newcastle Disease when it rampaged thru California for a few years. Nor is this a US phenomenon - we've watched the spread of several strains of AI throughtout Europe, North Africa, and the Near East over the past few years. There is, in fact, some support for the idea that this year's AI here in North America comes from a bird infected over in Europe, as result of their annual migratory patterns.

Believe what you will.