Let’s Talk About Bird Flu

[Squawkers]

Is the bird flue more prevalent in certain areas?

 

[horror_trashcan]

It would appear so using the mat TOMTE provided, here it is again https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestoc...za/hpai-detections/commercial-backyard-flocks I have it bookmarked and am checking it daily for my state. Currently Ohio is suffering the greatest with 5.8m birds affected cases and 25 commercial flocks affected.
*edited for link and fact checking oops

 

[Squawkers]

It would appear so using the mat TOMTE provided, here it is again https://www.aphis.usda.gov/livestoc...za/hpai-detections/commercial-backyard-flocks I have it bookmarked and am checking it daily for my state. Currently Ohio is suffering the greatest with 5.8m birds affected cases and 25 commercial flocks affected.
*edited for link and fact checking oops

Yes, I saw the map which is what made me wonder. And why are some states more than others? The climate?

 

[horror_trashcan]

Yes, I saw the map which is what made me wonder. And why are some states more than others? The climate?

I'm wondering if its due to the waterfowl in the areas, most of the affected states are near water. I would also assume plenty of cases are not being reported, I highly doubt there are 0 cases in KY where I am.

 

[Squawkers]

I'm wondering if its due to the waterfowl in the areas, most of the affected states are near water. I would also assume plenty of cases are not being reported, I highly doubt there are 0 cases in KY where I am.

That makes sense!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

What are the symptoms of bird flu? How would I know if my flock was affected? Do they just drop dead, or ...?

 

[RobG7aChattTN]

Is the bird flue more prevalent in certain areas?

Yep. It follows the main flyways of migratory waterfowl. While it may look like the whole country is inna flyway the reality is some areas are much more congested with migratory waterfowl than others. Where I live in Chattanooga, TN we aren’t in a major flyway when you look at actual bird traffic. There are a few birds that overwinter in Florida that briefly cross over but not many. When I’ve traveled I’ve been really shocked to see how many ducks and geese migrate on the East Coast and West Coast and I’ve seen tons out in Arkansas as well. For example, I’ve never seen a snow goose in Chattanooga but I’ve seen a ton in the Northeast on the coast and out in Arkansas. So take this map for example. It looks like the whole US is in one flyway or another:

So taking my area of Southeast Tennessee we are right on the border of the Atlantic and Mississippi flyway so you’d think we’d have tons of birds but look at where the concentrations actually are:

So here you see that really most birds in the Atlantic flyway stay along the coast while in the US and birds in the Mississippi tend to follow pretty close to the Mississippi River. So while you do see a low concentration of waterfowl in Southeast Tennessee there are some. But where exactly do they actually go? Here in this map you can see that a few birds start out down south in Florida but break off and just pass right over Southeast Tennessee. They don’t seem to be staying, just passing over:

The one thing we do have quite a few of are Sandhill Cranes and there are areas that get quite thick with them…just not very close to my house. Of course migratory waterfowl can infect local birds which in turn can infect other local birds but there are definitely areas where you should have a greater concern. The way this Highly Pathogenic Strain got to North America is because some migratory waterfowl from Europe that were infected spend the summer in the same Arctic areas where birds on the Atlantic Flyway spend their summers. At first it was confined to the East Coast but as you can see from the maps some birds that spend the winter in Florida cross over into the Mississippi Flyway and basically that’s how it eventually spread all the way out west and even down into South America.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

So in the third of those maps, three arrows converge over SE MO, pretty much right over my neighborhood....

 

[Squawkers]

So in the third of those maps, three arrows converge over SE MO, pretty much right over my neighborhood....

The top purple arrow in Texas goes right to me too

 

[BDutch]

I live in Europe and understand your concern. We have this bird flu in my country for many years now. Living in a country with a dense population of waterfowl and large chicken/poultry factory farming we have lock downs every year since this very contagious HPAI started and lots of chickens/poultry killed.

The high amounts of kills and lockdowns were mainly bc of factory farming. We have another lockdown since late autumn. The lockdowns for people with a BY poultry hobby are less strict if there aren’t any outbreaks nearby (3km).

When this all started I was afraid, like many of you are in the US now. I decided to let my chickens free range to give them a happy and healthy life. Nothing happened all those years. I don’t want the factory farmers industry to dictate how I keep my chickens.

I think it’s a bit like Covid. We need to learn to live with it. Hoping this bird flu stays away and when it comes, I hope my girls are healthy enough to cope with the disease.
The oldies probably die, but there is a good chance the younger and fitter chickens survive.