Bird flu :(

[cackleberryandco]

For those of you who may know, I am a college student, so I go to school in Cook County but my house is in DuPage County (with my chickens). I just saw on the news, 3 confirmed cases of bird flu found in waterfowl (in this case, Canadian geese) in Will County, which is basically directly below both Cook and DuPage. So, pretty close to me. What should I do to protect my birds? I have 7 hens that do not free range, they are in a run with a roof and I do let them outside when I get the free time but they've been stuck inside recently; we had a hawk attack last Tuesday so I wasn't planning on letting them out for a few weeks anyways. Anything else I can do? How long do we think this may last? Thanks for helping out, never dealt with this before I thought it was an East coast problem, I of course suspected it would be here eventually but not that fast. Thanks for the help!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Keep them in the run, and under the roof.

Don't go to Farm King/Tractor Supply/etc and ooh and ahh over the hatchery chicks with a bunch of other chicken owners, then go home and cuddle your own.

Keep a pair of "run"ning shoes/mucks/boots/sandles outside the run, so you can change footwear when you enter their space. Keep said footwear clean by submerging in a mild bleach solution or similar (I like cheap walmart flip flops, sandles, "crocs" knock-offs, etc for this - inexpensive and entirely plastic)

Expect at least another 6 weeks of this.

Happens somewhere in the nation every couple of years. Part and parcel of bird ownership. Relax. Its a high consequence, low likelihood event - like winning the lottery, or the earth being struck by an asteroid the size of a school bus. Humans are REALLY bad at putting that sort of thing into perspective.

 

[cackleberryandco]

Keep them in the run, and under the roof.

Don't go to Farm King/Tractor Supply/etc and ooh and ahh over the hatchery chicks with a bunch of other chicken owners, then go home and cuddle your own.

Keep a pair of "run"ning shoes/mucks/boots/sandles outside the run, so you can change footwear when you enter their space. Keep said footwear clean by submerging in a mild bleach solution or similar (I like cheap walmart flip flops, sandles, "crocs" knock-offs, etc for this - inexpensive and entirely plastic)

Expect at least another 6 weeks of this.

Happens somewhere in the nation every couple of years. Part and parcel of bird ownership. Relax. Its a high consequence, low likelihood event - like winning the lottery, or the earth being struck by an asteroid the size of a school bus. Humans are REALLY bad at putting that sort of thing into perspective.

Thanks, I appreciate it... I've only had chickens for about 9-10 months so I wasn't sure to expect.. people on this website seem to make it sound like an automatic death sentence. That, and I might be a little bit medicated for anxiety.. but thanks again

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Thanks, I appreciate it... I've only had chickens for about 9-10 months so I wasn't sure to expect.. people on this website seem to make it sound like an automatic death sentence. That, and I might be a little bit medicated for anxiety.. but thanks again

If they contract it, its a death sentence for your whole flock. Much like a school bus sized asteroid hitting the earth somewhere nearby...

But the chances they contract it are (relatively) small. Chances you can affect (somewhat) by reasonable precautions.

I still free range mine - but my financial situation is such that its cheaper to replace all (roughly) 60 birds than it is to try and provide hard cover over acres. I've simply made a different risk assessment, in view of differing situations. Since your flock is smaller, acclimated to a run, and already has hard cover, you have options I don't.

 

[Oddyseous]

I'm personally making sure I quarantine any new birds to my flock, I sort of did this anyway, but, just making sure I do quarantine for 30 days as a rule now.

Other than that, business as usual and my chickens live like Spartans. Anyone who is unhealthy or sick gets the chopping block.

Since I'm personally against vaccinating my chickens, the spartan route is really the best I can do.