Giving fodder to hens amidst H5N1

[charlotte-and-the-bees]

Hi there! I live in western Washington and have a fully enclosed flock. H5N1 was found in a BC eagle, but I have been playing it safe with upped biosecurity despite not being found here yet. I do like to give them fodder and garden veggies, but have been torn about doing so recently, even washed. How do others feel about this?

 

[aart]

I seriously doubt that sprouting seeds/grains for fodder or feeding garden veggies are vectors for any avian virus.

 

[Folly's place]

It's not without risk, if bird poo from an infected flyer overhead landed on it, at least until really hot weather kills the virus faster.
My birds aren't getting anything grown outside here, at least for now. All those geese overhead!
Mary

 

[3KillerBs]

It's not without risk, if bird poo from an infected flyer overhead landed on it, at least until really hot weather kills the virus faster.
My birds aren't getting anything grown outside here, at least for now. All those geese overhead!
Mary

I too am waiting on the arrival of summer before I give the birds anything from outside -- even at the literal cost of having to buy straw and shavings instead of raking up pine straw and yard debris for bedding.

 

[Folly's place]

I've been buying grit, and am considering cooking gravel in the oven instead?!
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

Amazing, right? But the grit from the store is way too small, so the birds are eating a lot of it, rather than the larger pieces that they can get off the ground.
Mary

 

[3KillerBs]

Amazing, right? But the grit from the store is way too small, so the birds are eating a lot of it, rather than the larger pieces that they can get off the ground.
Mary

I'm thinking about buying grit because I'm not sure that they're able to get enough out of the coop floor as the litter deepens and they're without access to their run.

 

[Folly's place]

That's the problem all right. No outside access means no small stones available, and even when eating mostly bagged feed, they want their grit!
Mary

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Its all about risk tolerance. The risks aren't Zero. They are, in my view, Negligible. With reasonable, normal, routine levels of care. Extreme efforts can't reduce that risk to zero, but may reduce it some fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent.

Similar to the risk of getting a food born illness from fresh produce at the grocery store. Sure, plenty of people do each year, but when compared to the number of times each year roughly 300 million people in the US eat fresh produce... and its pretty clear from public bathrooms that some of those people have differing levels of acceptable daily sanitation, which we can only assume applies to their food prep efforts as well.

Whether the additional care, multiplied by that negligible risk, is worth it to you or no is a factor of how you value your birds. I value mine, but they aren't pets, and they are replaceable. If the flock gets culled, I'll be irritated, financially harmed, but not devastated. Your own calculus almost certainly differs.

 

[3KillerBs]

Its all about risk tolerance. The risks aren't Zero. They are, in my view, Negligible. With reasonable, normal, routine levels of care. Extreme efforts can't reduce that risk to zero, but may reduce it some fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent.

Similar to the risk of getting a food born illness from fresh produce at the grocery store. Sure, plenty of people do each year, but when compared to the number of times each year roughly 300 million people in the US eat fresh produce... and its pretty clear from public bathrooms that some of those people have differing levels of acceptable daily sanitation, which we can only assume applies to their food prep efforts as well.

Whether the additional care, multiplied by that negligible risk, is worth it to you or no is a factor of how you value your birds. I value mine, but they aren't pets, and they are replaceable. If the flock gets culled, I'll be irritated, financially harmed, but not devastated. Your own calculus almost certainly differs.

I'm thinking that once our summer temperatures arrive and give the ground a good cooking -- which is starting this week -- I will start letting them out.