LOS ANGELES county CA under bird quarantine :(

[Aunt Angus]

And here's a link to the county info page. If you find your county and click on it, you can find info for contacting your district's supervisor's office: http://www.counties.org/county-websites-profile-information

 

[Aunt Angus]

Here's one of many sources I found about wild birds:
https://www.avma.org/News/JAVMANews/Pages/180915u.aspx

ETA:
More sources:
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0162484
http://www.cfsph.iastate.edu/FastFacts/pdfs/newcastle_F.pdf
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5659000/

That last one was particularly interesting. I am a sucker for scientific studies...

 

[Kathy Golla]

Thanks, Kathy. Are you absolutely sure about this and can you share the source? It would be a big factor as to whether I let my flock free range. I never thought they (wild, migratory birds) were the cause, but thought they could be carriers, especially pigeons? We have a flock of pigeons that visits the tall trees surrounding our property every day just before dusk. Thanks!

I would reverse that and ask those that THINK wild birds are spreading this outbreak to divulge their sources! Rational thought would be that the state and feds would have already figured that out and not be euthanizing backyard chicken flocks. They'd be trying to get rid of wild birds or telling all chicken owners to enclose their pens so wild birds cant get in.

 

[Kiki]

THANK YOU!

Ok, friends, need a little help/guidance here. In an effort to help others, the local (paper) news wants to ask me some questions about what precautions I’m taking to protect my birds. I don’t want to contribute to hysteria and misinformation, but I think spreading the word might be a good idea. Thoughts on the subject (news article) and what to say?

You contacted your local paper?

 

[Kiki]

Tell the paper to tell everyone to stop moving birds around.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Just spoke to my friend in the USDA after bringing her some fresh eggs. She said that wild birds can carry the disease on their bodies but not be affected and that’s how it can be spread. She said pigeons can contract vND. She is going back to California the first week of April. She also outlined their bio security measures: when doing block by block testing or depopulating each time they encounter birds they are wearing a sterile suit, after the birds are tested or euthanized they put on a new clean sterile suit. Also if a USDA worker comes across sick birds they are done for the day.
She also is sympathetic when it comes to euthanizing the birds that are pets. She says it’s hard when there are little children, but it’s best that they don’t see their beloved pets suffer.
She had a flock of chickens that were taken by a fox. After vND is eradicated in California I will be helping her start a new flock.
She also said that the USDA is not trying to be seen as the big bad government knocking on your door to euthanize your birds. They are doing this so that hopefully in a few months all of you will be able to get more birds.

 

[Bug n Flock]

I shared the 2 active byc newcastle threads to a parrot forum I am a member of, and tried to clearly state that many/most backyard poultry flocks are pets first and breakfast makers second.

Those poor owners. My fiancee was like, if we end up in a qt/euthanasia zone, can we hide Nibbler(she was the example I gave when I said they don't care if it is pet poultry or livestock poultry)? I responded that I don't even know if that would be the right thing to do for Nibbler herself.

All we can do is up biosecurity, watch the developments, and support each other. My heart seriously breaks for those in the euth zones.

 

[micstrachan]

You contacted your local paper?

No. They contacted me after I shared the CDFA link on my mountain community forum.

 

[micstrachan]

I would reverse that and ask those that THINK wild birds are spreading this outbreak to divulge their sources! Rational thought would be that the state and feds would have already figured that out and not be euthanizing backyard chicken flocks. They'd be trying to get rid of wild birds or telling all chicken owners to enclose their pens so wild birds cant get in.

Ok. I did see something last night that sounded like it affects all or most birds, so I assumed they could carry and transmit it. I’ll try to find it. It was linked from another site.

 

[Kiki]

Ok. I did see something last night that sounded like it affects all or most birds, so I assumed they could carry and transmit it. I’ll try to find it. It was linked from another site.

The CDFA site has a lot of information on it about this disease.