How to answer the Avian Flu questions that people ask?

[V Chic Chick]

I think the best thing to do is speak to your neighbours first and reassure them that you are doing everything the government recommends to protect your birds, and therefore people around them. Also point out that all of the outbreaks in the UK have been in factory farms rather than free range farms where hygiene is, frankly, terrible.

Last outbreak of bird flu I had several people asking me if I was going to get rid of my chickens now, and aren't they in some kind of massive danger from being near me? I reassured them, and this time nobody has said anything, even though it is H5N1 instead of H7-something this time.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Sorry for dragging this topic out of the dustbin -- I found it because I was searching for quarantine instructions.

Anyway, is it just me, or does the USDA recommendation of washing your tires after you've been anywhere near other birds, or for that matter the feed store, a little extreme? I mean I'm all for hygeine, but it seems like a waste of time and resources to clean your tires, when you could unknowingly drive over some sort of roadkill that happened to be an infected wild bird or through some droppings from a wild bird that was a carrier and not know you need to wash your tires? Besides I think most contagious material would be dislodged by the time you got home. I guess my point is that the harder you try to control something the more you realize you can't ever be 100% thorough.

Does anyone really wash their tires after visiting the feed store?

 

[SpottedCrow]

No...I don't, but if I go to a show or go to the fair or go to work and I work with the Psittacines, I change my clothes and shoes and wash my hands with antibacterial soap.
I'm a classic example of typhoid mary, if it's around I get it. I've had Chicken pox as an adult and 5th disease also.
BUT>>>now that I've had chickens, I'm healthier than I've ever been in my life.
Go figure.

 

[ruth]

My answer to anyone asking me if I'm worried about getting bird flu - "Yes, I'll worry about that - right after I finish worrying about:

1. Car wrecks
2. Plane crashes
3. Heart Attack
4. Cancer
5. Hurricanes
6. Flash Floods
7. Tornadoes
8. Earthquakes
9. Acts of Terrorism
10. Acts of Violence

Because my odds of dying from one of the above are higher than my odds of dying from bird flu"

Honestly, I really don't worry about any of the above or germs in general. I travel for a living, fly, use public restrooms, sleep on hotel pillows, etc. etc. I don't bleach everything, I don't use hand sanitizers and I am NEVER sick, NEVER been sick - NEVER a cold, flu, headache. Praise the Lord. I've got better things to do with my time than worry.

 

[FamilyOfChickens]

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