Let’s Talk About Bird Flu

[6-Hens-and-Me]

Hi everyone,

With bird flu (avian influenza) affecting flocks across the globe, it's more important than ever to stay informed and prepared. This disease doesn't just pose a risk to our flocks—it can also affect other animals and even humans in certain cases.

Let’s use this thread to share:

1. What precautions you're taking to protect your flock.
2. Questions or concerns you have about bird flu.
3. Reliable resources or tips that could help the community.

Remember, staying informed and proactive is the best way to keep ourselves and our feathered friends safe. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and tips!

Also, feel free to participate in our poll: What Are You Doing to Protect Your Flock From Bird Flu (H5N1) Infection?

Hiya all, I’m from wales (Britain) and I’m in the yellow warning but I’m still allowed to let them free range! Because we’re in such a rural area, I must say never had an issue with bird flu. But I always say that chickens that are outdoors enjoying life have a better chance to survive the flu than those stuck indoors with 20 other birds and are often bored and grumpy.

 

[Noraaaaa]

Potentially, yes. Please report it to your local conservation department and give them the specimen if you still have it.
I am always on the look out for dead birds in our yard in fear a dog will find one and eat it or a chicken find one an peck at it.
We are inundated with Robins and all kinds of migratory songbirds right now. I am seriously thinking about hard lock down. I am finding song bird poop all over the yard. We do not feed the birds or provide water for them via bird baths. They cannot access the run. I would encourage you to deter the birds from getting into your run by using a garden mesh shade cover or something similar if it's not fully covered.

Okay! Thank you! I put the dead in our feeding grounds (we just chuck the dead stuff in the back of our property and vultures eat them) so we don't have it anymore. I don't feed wild birds. I will find some mesh to put up. How contagious is it? None of my birds have shown any symptoms.

 

[theoldchick]

I should do this...

I have a pair of boots and a pair of crocs that are my "coop boots", but I also wear them when I go out because I only own one other pair of shoes besides those.

Excuses, excuses!

I do need to give my crocs a good wash, though. They are incredibly poopy.

https://www.farmbiosecurity.com.au/biosecurity-basics-make-your-own-footbath/

 

[BDutch]

You can not compare the way that illnesses spread today to any other time in human history, no matter what may have been the case for the previous 10,000 years.

True but many native Americans got killed by the flu brought into the continent by the sailers that came from Europe. The black dead (pest) killed most people who lived in city’s in a situation with poor sanitation. And the Spanish flu around 1910 killed an enormous amount of people too. Looked it up on Wikipedia:

Spoiler: Epidemics from 1000 - 2000 :

Epidemics from 1000 - 2000 translated with google.

1347-1351. The most notorious of all epidemics, the so-called Black Death. Via the Crimea and Genoa, the bubonic plague (this is also a controversial diagnosis) spread across almost all of Europe. An estimated 25 million of the 85 million Europeans lost their lives. This epidemic, like the one mentioned above, probably also ravaged large parts of Asia.
In the first two centuries after Columbus discovered America in 1492, the population in large parts of the New World was decimated by diseases brought over from Europe, which were previously unknown and to which the population had no immunity. The native population probably decreased from 40-100 million inhabitants to less than 10 million during that period. In some areas, the population decline was 90% or more. Many countries in Latin America did not regain their pre-discovery population until the mid-20th century, and in some remote areas, even fewer people live today than in 1492. The greatest devastation was caused by smallpox.
In the years 1663-1666, a large part of Western Europe was struck by the plague. In London, 60,000 citizens lost their lives out of a population of 500,000, in Amsterdam 34,000 out of a population of over 200,000.
In the years immediately following the First World War, the world was hit by the so-called Spanish flu, an influenza epidemic, which probably claimed twice as many victims as the war.
Later in the 20th century, two more flu pandemics followed, namely the Asian flu (1957) and the Hong Kong flu (1968), with fewer fatalities than the Spanish flu.

Other notorious infectious diseases that have caused epidemics: cholera, typhoid, measles, tuberculosis, malaria, yellow fever.

 

[PioneerChicks]

Bird flu notices are popping up again. Are we noticing the natural cycle more since the massive outbreaks a couple years ago, or has it been worse since then?

 

[Blingchix6]

I've learned that while the risk of songbirds spreading the disease to backyard flocks is fairly low, it's better safe than sorry when it comes to feeding wild birds. You don't have to take your feeders down, if you're able to hang them well away from your flock, and deep clean them weekly. Same goes for bird baths.

Wild waterfowl are the most likely to spread HPAI.

Here you can see detections of HPAI by category (commercial and backyard flocks, wild birds, mammals, and livestock) and by state. Here's an example for Michigan.
View attachment 4038433

I get none of my information from the media, and all of it from here and official websites like the one linked above. And that's the best advice I can give. Any information that you get not directly from an official source, FACT CHECK!

Wow. Thank you for the reliable info. I live in Northeast Ohio and I have only let my flock out into the yard twice in the past month. I also put a fence up around the BirdBuddy wild feeder so that the chickens cannot get near it. I cannot sequester them from wild birds (like sparrows) but I can keep them away from wildfowl. There is a wildlife reservoir behind my house and there is duck and goose traffic as well as hawks,coyotes and deer.

 

[RynNightmare]

Hi everyone,

With bird flu (avian influenza) affecting flocks across the globe, it's more important than ever to stay informed and prepared. This disease doesn't just pose a risk to our flocks—it can also affect other animals and even humans in certain cases.

Let’s use this thread to share:

1. What precautions you're taking to protect your flock.
2. Questions or concerns you have about bird flu.
3. Reliable resources or tips that could help the community.

Remember, staying informed and proactive is the best way to keep ourselves and our feathered friends safe. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and tips!

Also, feel free to participate in our poll: What Are You Doing to Protect Your Flock From Bird Flu (H5N1) Infection?

I’m honestly so terrified of bird flu for my ducks. They’ve seemed more tired lately and I’m already worrying about worst case scenarios. I’m telling myself it’s probably fine. I have two ducks, I live in a neighborhood, there haven’t been any reported outbreaks in my relative area. My ducks don’t go out a lot already unless they’re supervised because of hawks. But Sammy’s sneezed a couple times too. I’m terrified that they’ll get it or have it and Google definitely doesn’t help

 

[AGeese]

I’m honestly so terrified of bird flu for my ducks. They’ve seemed more tired lately and I’m already worrying about worst case scenarios. I’m telling myself it’s probably fine. I have two ducks, I live in a neighborhood, there haven’t been any reported outbreaks in my relative area. My ducks don’t go out a lot already unless they’re supervised because of hawks. But Sammy’s sneezed a couple times too. I’m terrified that they’ll get it or have it and Google definitely doesn’t help

Panic doesn't help.

 

[Molpet]

Panic doesn't help.

Tell that to my brain at 3 in the morning

 

[AGeese]

Tell that to my brain at 3 in the morning

At 3 AM it's gone from panic to paranoia.