HEADS UP AVIAN INFLUENZA ALERT

[MrsBachbach]

Thank you for posting this article. This is way too close for comfort. We only have 6 wee ones (they will be 6 wks old this Saturday) but we have grown sooooo attached to them and we will protect them as best as we can. We have already implemented rules regarding them that our neighbors find to be way over the top but from what Im reading it's just basic biosecurity. We aren't allowing any visitors in our backyard, hand washing before and after is a must, set of shoes/clothes to be used for the pen/coop only etc. 

I was thinking and Im sure many will think I'm totally ignorant but I just don't understand the thought process of culling thousands of birds on farms etc if only a few were found to have it within that farm.  I'm not knocking the USDA and their efforts I truly just don't understand the thought process behind it.  

To give an example - Farmer Brown has 8 buildings and AI was found in 1 of the buildings... why cull the other 7 buildings?  Is it because they are afraid that employees or vehicles unknowingly carried the germs to the other buildings?  Why not let it play out and see if any birds become sick in the other buildings before culling them?  I'm sure this sounds ignorant to most but I can't help but think are they culling more than truly needs to be?  Being totally new to chickens I've always thought AI wasn't something we would probably ever have to deal with, and hopefully we won't ever have to but it is a possibility now nonetheless.    

It doesn't sound ignorant to me as far as the other buildings go. Chances are it hasn't reached those buildings. Of course if even one bird is found to have it, it is assumed that the virus has spread to others, especially those in the same building, it is just incubating and not showing visible signs yet. However, the problem with lettting it play out in a flock with such extremely large numbers (those thousands in a building) is that it give the virus the chance to mutate to possibly a more dangerous strain, even a strain that may infect humans. So, I can understand not letting it play out in a building. I still don't understand the need to cull other houses that have no symptoms. Unless they just feel it is inevitable that they will be infected. I don't know why they would feel that way though.

 

[chicknmania]

Maybe a little treat for the lock down girls.

This morning I opened the door to go in, I was late feeding them and it was a very nice day, though cool. I could hear them fretting at the door. AS soon as I opened it, they literally practically overran me trying to get out. So tomorrow I' will have to try to go in the back door. I brought them 40 lbs of fresh dusting dirt for their pool, but who cares, they wanted to go outside!

 

[chicchic25]

i came across this. Can't reveal much about who or where it's from, but here you go.

xxxxxxxxxxxx last week…we got to talking about the HPAIV and inspector told me that USDA will be doing randomized testing on backyard flocks – basically…they drive past your house and see you have chickens…they will knock on your door, pay you for what your flock is worth and take the birds…

At times I wonder how knowledgeable the inspector is…so I don’t know how much truth there is to this but figured I’d throw that tid-bit of info out to stir a pot…

So and here are MY questions. a) I thought they could test without killing the bird.b) What if you don't answer the door? c) Are they really going to spend time catching them, or do they throw the book at you if you don't catch them and hand the birds over to them? and d) Does the government really have that much time, money, and extra help on their hands that they can just randomly wander around the countryside???

BRING IT ON!

But seriously.....we are new to chicken raising and have a very tiny backyard flock (6 Red Sex Links), I can only speak for myself when I say the USDA would have to bring the Police with them if they want to take our girls. Our girls don't free range and their run is under a roof, all walls consist of 1/4" wire mesh and as of a few weeks ago we try to maintain a strict habit of bio security. Nothing is fool proof, especially since they aren't 100% sure how its spreading. I don't think you are too far off base in regards to the agro-terrorism. We have also thrown around the idea, it's a frightening thought but in the world we all live in you can't rule it out. Best of luck with your flock.

 

[WalnutHill]

. Again I ask with this whole USDA conspiracy that you say is running rampant across the country and wiping out backyard flocks with no warning who exactly is this happening to? Yes there are random cases popping up iin Kansas, Washingon, British Colombia, Kentucky and now Indiana that the USDA has tested backyard flocks and destroyed them when results came positive. Here in Iowa that I know about 60 miles from me some backyard ducks tested positive and were culled but they were on the same property of 3 chicken confinement buildings that also had all their birds culled. Show me more than 10-15 cases that have occurred out of the hundreds of thousand of backyard poultry raisiers and then I will beleive your conspiracy theory.
If the USDA wants to find us then go to our local Bomgaars store. Last year they sold over 6000 baby chickens, turkey, ducks and guineas in this area. Anybody, including myself , had to sign papers saying who we are , what we bought and also list our address anytime we bought poultry from them.
And yes again...not one backyard chicken farmer like me has had any correspondence with any county officials or USDA members.
The one statement that Walnut Hill said makes me laugh...and that is my entire flock is probably sick. Wow ..you can tell that all the way up in Michigan?! Amazing. I am done. This is my flock and again today they are out wandering my farm. If this whole theory of Walnut Hill's is correct should I take down my finch feeders, chase away all the hummingbirds, take down all the wood duck houses my granpa installed in the 1980's. Is the USDA going to eradicate all them too? Have a good day everybody.

I think you are reading a great deal more into what you read than was intended or said.

I did not say that your flock was sick. My flock is not sick either. I have taken the precaution of excluding songbirds from the coops as much as possible, and chase away the random wild duck that ventures in, but as the transmission methods are unknown this may or may not be helpful.

I did, however, state facts as expressed in the USDA HPAI emergency management responses as published in the link I provided a few posts ago. The USDA has the authority to take whatever means it deems appropriate in containing the spread of the virus. The USDA has stated that it will establish quarantine zones around confirmed infected sites, and this has in fact been implemented. What happens in the quarantine zones? The USDA has also implemented its "elevated threat" plans which include partnering with the affected states to help control and eradicate infected flocks.

I do consider this a serious threat to us, as backyard poultry keepers and small scale farmers.

The USDA's tracking site currently shows more than a dozen backyard flocks that have been confirmed and eradicated. I am not saying that the USDA goes door to door with trailers into which birds are vacuumed up and hauled off. I am saying that they DO have the authority to do so "in the interest of public health" and to preserve commercial operations.

 

[chicknmania]

Organic farmer friend of mine wrote this:

The best thing we can do is work to make the immune system of our birds the best it can be - - That means giving them fresh pasture and grass, good feed (in my case non-gmo verified feed based on the Fertrell formula, and allowing them room to behave as they naturally do. I spoke to Jim Adkins for the Sustainable Poultry Network and those were his recommendations.

 

[chicknmania]

I would like to just clarify something guys.

My apologies if I insinuated that my time is more valuable than yours...or that I am more hurried than you all. I was trying to explain why I don't have time to sit here and read 29+ pages of comments on AI. I really just needed quick info...in and out. Tell me what I need to know, please, so I can protect my flocks without spending extra time reading over the minutiae of AI.

The very first response to my post was snarky. If you did not intend your comment to be snarky, than I apologize for my response. Tact is something that perhaps could be learned by both of us.
I was given the information I needed and I am thankful for that particular poster who took time to stop and provide that for me so I didn't have to spend extra time scanning through page after page. Do I know that the information is on "virtually every page"? Nope...I see 27 pages, scan the first...don't find what I'm looking for and figure I'll go ahead and network.

Because not for nothing but...we all know what happens when we enter Google and begin research. You begin looking for information on AI and next thing you know its 2AM and you've somehow followed rabbit trails that have led you to cat videos.

Or is that just me?

Anyways...I'm not a newbie to BYC. Been here for some time now. I'm not a brandie new chicken keeper, either. I've got over 40 birds in my flock right now and 10 eggs under two different broodies. But AI is new to me. I have a neighbor who doesn't care for his birds, which come visit us fairly frequently. We are also frequently visited by migrating birds of many kinds. So yeah, I'm a bit concerned on how to keep my flock healthy.

Regardless, I was given the info I need and no longer need to be on this particular thread. Thanks, again, to the person who took time to help instead of commenting about how I should look it up myself.

OMG enough ALREADY! Point taken, OK????? If you all want to continue to talk about this, start another thread! THIS just contributes to too many pages for someone else!

 

[WthrLady]

Every time they are touched or moved there is another chance of contamination. Wonder why they don't incinerate on site.

 

[HugHess]

Does banning poultry shows help at all?

I believe so, only for the fact that BYC keepers don't need to be used as a scape goat to free the CAFOs from their inherent liability.

 

[chicknmania]

Just saying...if these big farms can't keep the virus out...and they do have extreme measures in place...uh....sorry, but I find it hard to believe that anyone can keep it out. I agree theres something very strange going on. I still think it might be agro terrorism. I cannot believe that the Government has not considered that possibility..if they haven't, we're in worse off shape than I thought, as a Country.

 

[besjoux]

Just chiming in here. There is a theory from an avian vet that the backyard flocks (even those still free ranging) are not as susceptible because they are exposed to more pathogens, have less stress and are better apt to fight off the disease. In addition, they believe the fans are circulating "virus borne" air. Anyone else buy into this theory?