Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[bigmrg74]

sure is windy out there today. I had to have mom lock me into the coop today while I was working on it because the wind kept blowing the door open on it, and letting chickens out. Not to mention the fact that it did catch Miss Belle with the slamming door as well and that was a heart in my throat moment there. She's fine thankfully.

 

[aart]

sure is windy out there today. I had to have mom lock me into the coop today while I was working on it because the wind kept blowing the door open on it, and letting chickens out. Not to mention the fact that it did catch Miss Belle with the slamming door as well and that was a heart in my throat moment there. She's fine thankfully.

Install a hook and eye on the inside of coop door.....I had a similar problem and that solved it, tho once it latched itself and I had to kick it open.

 

[bigmrg74]

Install a hook and eye on the inside of coop door.....I had a similar problem and that solved it, tho once it latched itself and I had to kick it open.

Normally the door spring keeps the door closed for me. Its just today that its windy enough and the tractor is parked at the right angle that it kept blowing the door open while I was trying to fix the grit and oyster shell feeders in there today.

Debating now if I just want to fence off the garden, or get some temporary fencing that I can keep around the tractor and move it as needed to keep the kids from making too much of a mess in one spot.

 

[chickflick]

Ag
Bird Flu Is Slamming Factory Farms But Sparing Backyard Flocks. Why?

—By Tom Philpott
| Wed May 20, 2015 6:00 AM EDT

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Daniel Reiner/Shutterstock
The Midwest's ongoing avian flu crisis is wreaking havoc on the region's large-scale egg and turkey farms. Last week alone, the US Department of Agriculture confirmed that the virus had turned up in more than 20 additional facilities in the region, condemning 4 million birds to euthanasia. Altogether, the H5N2 virus—"highly pathogenic" to birds, so far non-threatening to humans—has affected 168 sites and a jaw-dropping 36 million birds, the great bulk of them in Iowa and surrounding states. It's the largest avian flu outbreak in US history—and it has already wiped out 40 percent of the egg-laying flock h Iowa, the number-one egg-producing state in the US, according to The New York Times.
But it's largely leaving backyard flocks unscathed. Why?

You'd expect backyard flocks to be widely affected too, but they don't seem to be," said one virologist.​

According to Hon S. Ip, a virologist at the US Geological Survey's National Wildlife Health Center, it's a genuine mystery. Backyard flocks typically roam outdoors, in ready contact with wild birds, which are thought to be the origin of the virus. Their commercial counterparts live in tight confinement under strict "biosecurity" protocols: birds are shielded from contact with the outdoors; workers change into special boots and coveralls—or even shower—before entering facilities, etc.
Ip said that wild birds could be spreading the virus in one of two ways: directly, by bringing chickens and turkeys into contact with infected feces; or indirectly, through wind-borne particles that, say, blow through vents in a confined facility. "If that's how it's spreading, you'd expect backyard flocks to be widely affected too, but they don't seem to be," he told me. Moreover, it has continued to spread in Iowa, even after the egg industry had ample time to ramp up biosecurity. All of this suggests something else, besides wild birds, might be the cause, Ip added.

USDA secretary Tom Vilsack speculated that the virus could be entering farms through biosecurity breaches.​

But what? He has no idea, he said. And nor, apparently, does anyone else. In a recent news item[paywalled], the journal Science declared the outbreak "enigmatic." "All the old dogma about high-path influenza transmission has just gone out the window," Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy here at the University of Minnesota, told the journal. "We're in totally uncharted territory."
Meanwhile, in an interview with Iowa Public Radio, USDA secretary Tom Vilsack speculated that the virus could be entering farms through biosecurity breaches. "We've had circumstances recently where folks have been using pond water, for example, to feed and to water their birds. Well, that's a problem because the pond water could be contaminated," Vilsack said in the interview. "We've had situations where folks are supposed to shower before they go into the facility, but the shower doesn't work, so they go in anyway."
I've seen no reports detailing current conditions on egg farms in Iowa, but it's worth noting that in 2010, the Food and Drug Administration found troubling biosecurity lapses within some of the state's largest egg facilities, after they had been forced to recall 550 million eggs due to potential salmonella contamination. The FDA inspectors' report detailed a variety of problems, including several involving contact between egg-laying hens and wild birds.
While experts scramble to figure out how the disease is spreading, the egg and turkey industries are dealing with one particular immediate consequence: how to safely dispose of millions of potentially flu-ridden bird carcasses. As the Des Moines Register reports, the process is not going smoothly:

Landfills in South Dakota, Nebraska and northwest Iowa, where poultry producers have been the hardest hit, have turned away the dead birds, fearful of the risk of contamination. The problem is so severe that on Friday, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack stepped in to urge landfills to accept some of the millions of birds killed or destroyed by the H5N2 virus, saying delays could [exacerbate] odors and flies, problems neighbors have already complained about in some parts of the state.​

In response to these difficulties, the USDA has "dedicated 266 employees, including 85 in Iowa, and contracted more than 1,000 personnel to work around the clock across the 20 states affected by the outbreak," Vilsack wrote in a statement. In addition, the agency has allotted $130 million "in indemnity payments to help poultry producers who have lost flocks get back on their feet," Vilsack added.
That relatively modest measure of taxpayer support for the poultry industry may just be the beginning. The USGS's Ip said the rate of new infections is "showing signs of slowing down" as warm weather sets in. Flu viruses are "less stable" at higher temperatures, he said, which is why flu tends to be much worse in winter than in summer. But as Reuters reported recently, the USDA warns that it's "highly probable" the strain will return when the weather cools this fall. If it does, and it spreads to the eastern and southern poultry belts—where the great bulk of the chicken we eat is produced—taxpayers could be in for a real hit.

 

[flufssilkies]

Does anyone want some silkie chicks?

 

[TreeTree411]

I have some visitors right now.

 

[aart]

I have some visitors right now.

Cool!

 

[taprock]

Nothing wakes you like a duck chase before 6 am. I finally caught my broody who has been hiding out. She is penned up and I was covered in mud!

Our back field has been full of turkey courtship for the past two days. We have a tom and a jake parading around trying to impress a hen. She does not appear impressed! It has been nice to watch them and hear them talking throughout the day.

Another 24 eggs due to hatch. I'm hoping on some beautiful polish.

 

[Candy442]

I have some visitors right now.

We get those too They sound like Terradactyls

 

[1muttsfan]

Our back field has been full of turkey courtship for the past two days. We have a tom and a jake parading around trying to impress a hen. She does not appear impressed! It has been nice to watch them and hear them talking throughout the day.

Another 24 eggs due to hatch. I'm hoping on some beautiful polish.

Hope springs eternal!