HEADS UP AVIAN INFLUENZA ALERT

[MrsBachbach]

What do they do with that huge pile of birds after "compost"? How do you compost meat?
I though only vegetable matter could be safely composted?
I still think that is a very inhumane way to handle it. I can imagine a barely alive bird still struggling to survive in there being bulldozed into a pile. Why don't they just put something in their drinking water that is fast and effective?

 

[Buck Oakes]

some of them can't even drink

 

[Buck Oakes]

it is very sad however

 

[WalnutHill]

Hot composting is an acceptable method of breaking down organic matter, whether animal or vegetable, and is a lower risk than moving the carcasses outdoors.

While the suggested facility rest period after decontamination is 21 days, it will take far longer to break down those carcasses, even if they are just young birds. So that puts those facilities out of business for quite some time.

While 7.5 million birds is a drop in the bucket in the domestic poultry, I believe that in the end it will have a major impact on meat and egg laying chickens, breeder flocks, and turkey production. The breeder flocks are the biggest loss, as it takes time to build them back up.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I've been to Costa Rica twice and the hummingbirds are amazing. All the wildlife is amazing. Tiny as the country is, about half of it is parks and preserves. Yes, there is an abundance of tropical flowers, year round.

A couple years ago it was declared the most biologically diverse place on the planet. More species of butterflies than the entire continent of Africa. 100 volcanoes and 5 active.

What do they do with that huge pile of birds after "compost"? How do you compost meat?
I though only vegetable matter could be safely composted?
I still think that is a very inhumane way to handle it. I can imagine a barely alive bird still struggling to survive in there being bulldozed into a pile. Why don't they just put something in their drinking water that is fast and effective?

Soil amendment, like any other compost.
The reason meat is not recommended for small compost piles is the attraction to rats.
Large commercial farms compost all their dead livestock. They dump the dead cows in a row in the field and cover them with straw and dirt. Broiler chicken and turkey farms usually have a barn just for composting dead birds. Workers walk the barns every day picking up the dead birds, put them in the bobcat bucket and carry them to the barn, dump them and cover them.
I have huge compost piles and in addition to coop litter and garden debris, all the feathers, blood and offal from processing goes in there. It adds a lot of nitrogen. The piles get quite hot.
Foaming is the most humane and effective when dealing with HPAI.
There are no birds struggling to survive by the time the bulldozer comes in.

Hot composting is an acceptable method of breaking down organic matter, whether animal or vegetable, and is a lower risk than moving the carcasses outdoors.

While the suggested facility rest period after decontamination is 21 days, it will take far longer to break down those carcasses, even if they are just young birds. So that puts those facilities out of business for quite some time.

While 7.5 million birds is a drop in the bucket in the domestic poultry, I believe that in the end it will have a major impact on meat and egg laying chickens, breeder flocks, and turkey production. The breeder flocks are the biggest loss, as it takes time to build them back up.

The government is giving some compensation for live birds culled. None for the ones that die of the disease.

 

[WalnutHill]

The government is giving some compensation for live birds culled. None for the ones that die of the disease.

While I realize it's not anyone's "fault" that this disease exists, any more than it is anyone's "fault" that a hurricane hits, I believe that a disaster is a disaster and whether it is from direct impact or from ancillary damage, if there is compensation for one then there should be compensation for the other.

Since an entire facility can be wiped out in a matter of days and our USDA doesn't move that fast, all the birds could be dead before a team is mobilized, and in theory, no compensation.

And what is the level of compensation? The value of new hatchlings to replace 8 week old broilers or started pullets or laying hens or breeders? Or how about turkeys, with 20+ weeks to market and significant market value, are they "worth" the day-old poult value? I searched the USDA website and found no answers.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

That I don't know. I haven't seen it publicized.

 

[WalnutHill]

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/animal_he...ownloads/compoultryappraisalindemnity0711.ppt

The appraisal value spreadsheets are protected.

 

[MrsBachbach]

some of them can't even drink 

There would be that, but I was thinking of all the thousands in there that did not have the illness or were not at that point. Just guessing but if the illness is found on a commercial farm there may only be some infected and displaying symptoms in one house, while all other houses on the farm are not infected, yet have to be culled anyway. I imagine that is what is happening right? If a farm has several houses, all on the property are culled, not just the one house?
How in the world did they cull the millions of egg layers? Aren't they caged? Foam them in their cages floor to ceiling? Then what? Hose it all away or does it evaporate? Surely they don't bulldoze the cages.
Just seems like a more humane method. Those that aren't dead obviously would be still alive from not drinking and can be culled by other methods. Would show how far the illness spread on the farm also.

 

[enola]

I hope not only the chicken corporations will be compensated, what will be done for the farm owner. How is he going to pay the mortgage if his buildings stand empty for months at a time??