Update to Sudden Death of My Flock

[coach723]

Florida Fish and Wildlife has put out that bird flu has killed off many muscovy ducks in Florida, and says they are highly susceptible to it.

https://myfwc.com/research/wildlife/health/avian/influenza/

I would send a report of the findings to the local Fish and Wildlife people. There is a link in the article above to report. Maybe there are just so many cases now that they are overwhelmed and aren't paying so much attention, I don't know.

 

[MROO]

I read somewhere that bird flu isn’t fatal in ducks. They carry it but don’t show symptoms. Found this article quickly but I’m sure there’s something more exhaustive:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/ot...lu-what-to-know/ar-AA1Sxh9s?ocid=BingNewsSerp

In this article, the KC area is noted as a stopover on a major flyway. Some waterfowl, like juvenile Snow and Canada geese, were dropping like flies. Others, like the Mallard ducks, were not showing symptoms at all - but were confirmed carriers.
Muscovy ducks are genetically different from Mallards. While the specific influenza strain did not produce symptoms in the Mallards, it devastated the Muscovies.
So yes, bird flu is still fatal in ducks, it just affects some breeds differently - often more slowly - than others. Regardless of whether the ducks actively have it or just carry it with them wherever they go, the issue is huge for our domestic poultry. We need to keep our guard up to protect our flocks!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Oh dear!

 

[tlcmurphy]

Those ducks might not be resistant

It really does sound like bird flu though, you can wait until you get confirmation of this but you will very likely have to cull your remaining birds and wait 6 months before you get more. Bird flu is a very nasty disease, I'm sorry you're dealing with it

See post #6

 

[Sadness]

Thank you.

Florida Fish and Wildlife has put out that bird flu has killed off many muscovy ducks in Florida, and says they are highly susceptible to it.

https://myfwc.com/research/wildlife/health/avian/influenza/

I would send a report of the findings to the local Fish and Wildlife people. There is a link in the article above to report. Maybe there are just so many cases now that they are overwhelmed and aren't paying so much attention, I don't know.

i checked that report and resources but it’s from 11/2024. There have been no reports for my county or surrounding counties for years.

 

[coach723]

If you go to the bottom of the page there is a "report bird mortalities" (it's in blue type) that you can click on to submit a form. I believe that form is still active. If you have test results that confirm bird flu, I would absolutely submit. If I found a large amount of wild birds dead like that, I would absolutely submit.

 

[Sadness]

If you go to the bottom of the page there is a "report bird mortalities" (it's in blue type) that you can click on to submit a form. I believe that form is still active. If you have test results that confirm bird flu, I would absolutely submit. If I found a large amount of wild birds dead like that, I would absolutely submit.

I know there’s a place to report, and it’s already been reported. We paid for testing out of our own pockets bc they advised us to. They’re not being transparent on the spread of bird flu. I would have personally shot every Muscovy duck on my property if this outbreak was shared to the public. We were definitely not an isolated occurrence since flocks of Muscovy ducks died just south of us and they blamed it on pesticides. We’ve had neighbors with decades of experience raising chickens in this area that have been wiped out. It’s ridiculous that there’s no updates or news on this issue for my area.

 

[Sadness]

In this article, the KC area is noted as a stopover on a major flyway. Some waterfowl, like juvenile Snow and Canada geese, were dropping like flies. Others, like the Mallard ducks, were not showing symptoms at all - but were confirmed carriers.
Muscovy ducks are genetically different from Mallards. While the specific influenza strain did not produce symptoms in the Mallards, it devastated the Muscovies.
So yes, bird flu is still fatal in ducks, it just affects some breeds differently - often more slowly - than others. Regardless of whether the ducks actively have it or just carry it with them wherever they go, the issue is huge for our domestic poultry. We need to keep our guard up to protect our flocks!

Our guard was up. Our neighbors guards were up. They’ve been raising chickens for decades without issue. We’ve never had sick ducks, eggs stuck, or any other issue with our chickens. The only thing I would have done differently is shoot every Muscovy duck that set foot on my property.

 

[Sadness]

Our guard was up. Our neighbors guards were up. They’ve been raising chickens for decades without issue. We’ve never had sick ducks, eggs stuck, or any other issue with our chickens. The only thing I would have done differently is shoot every Muscovy duck that set foot on my property.

They never had mites, lice, marek, Newcastle, worms, or fly strike. Those chickens were cared for, and there’s nothing we could have done except to just lock them away. If anyone looked on the map, our county and neighboring counties has never had bird flu outbreaks in over 3 years. The closest reported infection was over 2 hours away. It was for a different type of duck that’s not found in our area. I’ve never seen that type of duck, and I’ve lived here for 30+ years. Either way, I lost my whole farm, and my place is quarantined, so probably can’t have chicken for months now. I wouldn’t plan on having them until the summer anyways. I wish fwc warned the public of the RECENT catastrophic deaths of muscovies less than 30 minutes away, but whatever.

 

[Sadness]

Are they testing for avian influenza? I would think they would, but I would call and ask and verify.
I'm disgusted with Fl. Wildlife. I called them several weeks ago regarding a really sick wild animal and got blown off. We had to dispatch it ourselves and dispose of it, not knowing at all what it had.

That’s insane. I’m sorry you had to go through it. Hopefully, it wasn’t close to your property.