How long does this avian flu survive on surfaces?

[K0k0shka]

Has anybody read anything official on this? Do we know? I'm working on my prevention strategies and wondering how long I should view exposed surfaces as potentially dangerous. Not exposed to the virus for sure, just potentially exposed - things that have been left out in an uncovered area, like tools, dry leaves, etc. How long of a "waiting period" can I give them after taking them into a protected area, before deeming them safe? Tools/shoes I can sanitize, but what about collecting dry leaves from my property to throw into the chicken run? For some reason I can't find anything definite on this. I know it depends on the surface, but I can't find anything. Is it days? Weeks? Months?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Depends on temperature and strain of HPAI. LPAIs break down at lower sustained temps than HPAIs - its one of the factors in making HPAI more transmissible than LPAI - it surviveslonger int he environment.

See for instance

Obviously, those conditions are impractical for "treating the outside".

See also

The answer is high sustained heat for length periods of time - basically overnight minimum temperatures above "X" for several days to several weeks. Its about a week of temps of 74F or higher, a couple days at 100, or 18 hours at 107+. Below 74 degrees, it can be a month or more...

 

[addctd2plnts]

Although wild birds can carry it, I think the ones to really worry about are wild ducks. I read one Journal article on it where researchers in Siberia found lakes still contained the virus, 3 weeks after all the ducks had migrated. Their theory was that it was because the water was so cold. The real issue is when duck owners allow their domestic ducks to free range and swim in open ponds, and then house them with their chickens. It's a REALLY BAD IDEA!

Traditionally, viruses have not lived very long on exposed dry surfaces, especially if exposed to sunlight. I wouldn't worry that much. You can sanitize drinking and food containers, and your feet before going into the run.

We only have ducks, but they are in covered movable pens. We have still been moving pens daily, but we put fresh water in their swimming pools daily. We are next to 3000 acres of park and conservation area, so birds are around. The pens are covered and no birds can get inside. I suppose it is technically possible they might poop on an area we move the pen to the next day, but I can't go that nuts. Ducks are an absolute nightmare to keep inside with how they fling water all over the place! I did stop feeding the birds at our feeder as soon as I heard, several weeks ago.

Although they talk about the wild birds spreading it, I really think that most commercial chicken farms would do everything they could to exclude wild birds. They've been through these outbreaks before and have too much to lose. The one thing it that is extremely difficult to stop around chickens is mice. I haven't seen it discussed, that mice might be somehow carrying it (not nessesarily getting sick from it, but carrying on their feet?), but it makes sense that something besides just wild birds has to be carrying it. I have seen it written in Journal articles that they have found the virus in pigs lungs but it wasn't making the pigs sick....yet. (They are worried if it mutates it might make pigs sick or jump to humans and be able to move from human to human) Commercial chicken farms probably have the highest level of sanitation and biosecurity. Just as a precaution, I set out a bunch of sticky traps in our barn in places other animals can't reach.

 

[K0k0shka]

Its about a week of temps of 74F or higher, a couple days at 100, or 18 hours at 107+. Below 74 degrees, it can be a month or more...

This is what I was looking for, and very good to know, thank you! I'll bag the raked leaves and debris from my spring cleaning of the yard and let them sit for a few months just in case. I also want to set a broody this year, with eggs from a local breeder, but I'm thinking of starting them in the incubator for maybe the first week or so and putting fake eggs under the broody, so that by the time they get to her, hopefully anything on them would've died after a week at 100 degrees.

The one thing it that is extremely difficult to stop around chickens is mice. I haven't seen it discussed, that mice might be somehow carrying it (not nessesarily getting sick from it, but carrying on their feet?), but it makes sense that something besides just wild birds has to be carrying it.

Oh that's a very good point! Other critters... Maybe even bugs? I don't know what kind of viral load is needed for this virus to make a chicken sick or show up in tests, and if there would be enough on the feet of a bug/fly to transmit it and cause infection. But it really makes me wonder. I haven't seen mice or rats around my chickens, but I have seen voles, and one was even killed and eaten by my chickens recently, right inside their run Definitely something to think about.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

The study on the other HPAI page looked at soil conditions and "low" and "high" viral loads, found very limited transmission, even in high loads, in some sandy soils - which sort of suggests that brief contact with an infected surface isn't an insurmountable risk. And probably suggests that bug borne contamination likely isn't a huge issue either.

More concerning is "sticky" soil, like clays that would be a persistent exposure until it fell off - or worse, the birds cleaned it off with their beaks while preening. Duck poops themselves, unlike chicken droppings, tend to be rather "sticky" themselves, and attach well to the bottom of shoes, etc - not something you want chickens walking in.

Or so I infer from the things not studied, based on the things they did model. My surmise is just that - unqualified opinion - but, as they say in publicly funded research, "It warrants further study".

 

[K0k0shka]

The study on the other HPAI page looked at soil conditions and "low" and "high" viral loads, found very limited transmission, even in high loads, in some sandy soils - which sort of suggests that brief contact with an infected surface isn't an insurmountable risk. And probably suggests that bug borne contamination likely isn't a huge issue either.

More concerning is "sticky" soil, like clays that would be a persistent exposure until it fell off - or worse, the birds cleaned it off with their beaks while preening. Duck poops themselves, unlike chicken droppings, tend to be rather "sticky" themselves, and attach well to the bottom of shoes, etc - not something you want chickens walking in.

Or so I infer from the things not studied, based on the things they did model. My surmise is just that - unqualified opinion - but, as they say in publicly funded research, "It warrants further study".

This makes me feel better actually. We don't have heavy, clay soils or a lot of exposed soil on the property actually. It's a suburban backyard, so pretty well maintained. I'm having everybody in the family change shoes when going to the backyard, so shoes we wear out to the park or to school are different and they don't go to the backyard or near the chickens. That's because my kids' school has a duck pond (their mascot is a duck) and there are ducks hanging out on the school grounds all the time, even hatching babies there which the school turns into a learning experience for the kids. Very sweet, but... ducks!! Haha. So I guess that's my main worry at the moment (that and the small river a couple of blocks away, which has ducks in it, too). On-the-property shoes and off-the-property shoes, and no more visitors/friends coming in to pet the chickens. And I'll let raked yard waste sit for a few months in bags just in case.

 

[Poultrybonkers]

I read 150 days