How are you preventing Avian Flu in your flock?

[K0k0shka]

Plus consider the grain has to travel, has been in a field, etc.

The virus only survives on surfaces for a very short amount of time. Like on the order of a couple of days, if that. Even if an infected bird pooped in the grain field, it would be a LONG time until the contaminated grain made it into your chicken feeder - harvesting from the field, riding on a truck to the processing plant (or any distribution hubs), being processed into feed, being packaged, riding on another truck to the distributor/seller, riding on yet another truck to your local store, sitting on the shelf waiting for you to buy it, then riding back home in your car... By the time it reaches your chickens, there will be no avian flu left on it that's still alive and dangerous.

As for workers contaminating it along any point of this process, they can still do that even if they don't own chickens. Maybe the lady at your local feed store walked her dog out in the woods the morning before going to work, didn't do a foot bath and tracked wild bird poop all over the store. Which could happen at the grocery store or the convenience store or any other place just as well. There's no way to eliminate all potential traces. We can just do our best to address and avoid the highest risk activities (like walking our own dog in the woods with the same shoes we go into the coop with), and hope for the best.

 

[OffGridChook]

Ugh! Now western Iowa and Nebraska confirmed cases

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Backyard “nonpoultry” can include our definition of poultry. The international definition of poultry is birds raised for sale & consumption purposes or something to that effect.

Mixed species could be chickens, geese, ducks, quail, or any other bird all kept in one area.

Thank you!

 

[OffGridChook]

Now Kansas. Ladies it’s spreading west fast. I hope everyone’s flocks are okay (

 

[Sueby]

Surprisingly my birds are handling lockdown well. 9 birds went from 1200 sf of run to 90 & haven't been complaining a whole lot. I did give them lots of feed/water stations, a flock block & a couple extra roosts. The are in an L shaped run so I think that helps them get away from each other.

I sure hope this slows down quickly, as ok as they are I feel like my maintenance free chickens will now require a lot more maintenance! & I had planned on meaties for the fall, but I don't have cover for meaties.

 

[OffGridChook]

Surprisingly my birds are handling lockdown well. 9 birds went from 1200 sf of run to 90 & haven't been complaining a whole lot. I did give them lots of feed/water stations, a flock block & a couple extra roosts. The are in an L shaped run so I think that helps them get away from each other.

I sure hope this slows down quickly, as ok as they are I feel like my maintenance free chickens will now require a lot more maintenance! & I had planned on meaties for the fall, but I don't have cover for meaties.

Glad to hear they are doing well. We have an L shape as well. The good thing about my girls is that there are only four of them and they grew up together. So once they got past the initial or pecking order stage, they’ve not even looked sideways at one another. I stopped feeding the sparrows, jays, woodpeckers and other songbirds so now the wild birds meet me at the chicken coop every evening begging for the chicken feed I remove every night. Not what I had in mind. If it’s not small scorpions and rattlesnakes or plague-y ground squirrels, now it’s avian flu to worry about?? Oh, I only have tarp covers on my run roof and tarps on the N/NW sides due to high winds. I feel theyre too exposed.

 

[Iluveggers]

Glad to hear they are doing well. We have an L shape as well. The good thing about my girls is that there are only four of them and they grew up together. So once they got past the initial or pecking order stage, they’ve not even looked sideways at one another. I stopped feeding the sparrows, jays, woodpeckers and other songbirds so now the wild birds meet me at the chicken coop every evening begging for the chicken feed I remove every night. Not what I had in mind. If it’s not small scorpions and rattlesnakes or plague-y ground squirrels, now it’s avian flu to worry about?? Oh, I only have tarp covers on my run roof and tarps on the N/NW sides due to high winds. I feel theyre too exposed.

Tough times for chicken owners.

 

[yesterDAYNE]

I've been sick over this for days. I'm in Northeast Oklahoma, and hearing it in Kansas and Missouri has gotten me nervous. My turkeys are my entire life, I love them just as much as most people would a dog or a cat, and they help greatly with my clinical anxiety. My turkeys are contained in a backyard fence, but the area is way too big to realistically roof. I have an unfinished 10x20 chain link pen with a tarp roof that I was going to convert into their sleeping coop (Right now they sleep in a smaller pen in the garage, which is not big enough for full time living), but the idea of having to keep them crammed into a 10x20 pen forever isn't great either... 9 turkeys in such a small area... ugh. I'm willing to do the biosecurity via changing shoes and everything before interacting with my birds, but it won't help if we can't keep them away from wild birds anyway. Expanding the 10x20 is an option but chain link pens are expensive and we don't have a lot of money right now. Me and my mom also don't really know how to build and we both have a lot of struggles trying to read, visualize and understand plans you can get online.

We don't get canadian geese in our yard, but the entire winter there's been a huge flock at our neighbors across the dirt road. It's a lot of land between us and them, but we can see them and the pond from our hill and now them being there has me more nervous, when before I used to be so excited to see them.

This is more of me venting then anything. I'm keeping my eyes out in this thread (and the others) for ideas and updates.

 

[MROO]

It's been in Delaware, and now there is a confirmed infection just over the Maryland line ... on MY county. I am trying very hard to stay calm and logical about it ... but that doesn't always work. My own birds should (key word: SHOULD, fingers crossed) be safe. My sister is a dairy farmer who has beaten bio-security into my head for years. I listened.

• My small backyard flock is closed. The only way we add new birds is if my girls get busy on their own. It's a good time to focus on our breeding program.
• No shows. We quarantined after every 4H show my daughter attended. She aged out just as the pandemic hit, so my chickens haven't left home since 2019.
• We keep rubber boots and crocs hanging under the eaves of my coop. No one goes in wearing their street or work shoes.
• No one goes in or around the coop and run except DD, DS and myself. None of us have contact with other birds - domestic or wild.
• All barriers are either solid wood or 1/2 inch hardware cloth, so no birds can get in or out.
• We don't free-range.
• I no longer keep a wild bird feeder. I miss seeing the birds from my windows, but if it keeps my girls safe, I'll watch from a distance.
• This year's "Spring Cleanout" will include changes to eliminate/prevent mites & other potential disease vectors in my wooden playhouse coop. Plans include sealing some questionable seams, remounting/replacing roosts, replacing worn flooring and resealing window sills. We will also be replacing the 30-year-old cedar shingles on the roof and adding a metal roof vent.

 

[OffGridChook]

I've been sick over this for days. I'm in Northeast Oklahoma, and hearing it in Kansas and Missouri has gotten me nervous. My turkeys are my entire life, I love them just as much as most people would a dog or a cat, and they help greatly....

I’m so sorry you have been sick and have this added worry. Maybe just tarps or even drop cloths. Will help a little. Plus the bleach water for your muck boots and cleaning tools. Summer is almost here; doesn’t it fade away when the heat arrives?

I caught a sparrow squeezing his little fat body out of the run during the window between when the girls go in the coop to sleep and I come out to lock them up and remove their food. The top section of the side and the “roof” is only chicken wire, no hardware cloth. I have only one small section not covered by tarps or dropcloths because of the needed sun but that may have to change soon.

Oh, I saw this posted on none of my news sites that I read. Please forgive me if it’s already been posted. It’s a real-time update of confirmed cases in states https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ou...pai-2022/2022-hpai-commercial-backyard-flocks