We’re being smart about this, but we’re not getting rid of our chickens. H5N1 first appeared in China in 1996 followed by outbreaks in 1997. In 2002 a human case of H7N2 occurred here in the United States. Several years back our local farm stores stopped selling chicks and a few more cities banned chickens because of fears regarding the virus. Once the various forms of bird flu faded from the headlines “Chick Days” were once again a part of spring like racks of vegetable seeds and parking lot flower sales. Today, I got an email from the Missouri Department of Agriculture that poultry shows in four counties have been cancelled this year because the current variant of the virus has been found in those counties. All of these cases were found in commercial flocks. I would never state that because we don’t have thousands of birds crammed into a small space that there is no risk to our birds. I will say the risk is astronomically less and by being smart about how we care for our chickens. Our risk of exposure, at least for now, is also extremely low.
Many of the viruses that plague us human beings come from animals. They stayed with animals until we made that giant leap from hunter-gatherers to agrarian societies. When we began to live closely with them those viruses were able to jump to us. The pandemic of 1918 (erroneously referred to as the Spanish Flu) was an H1N1 virus, an avian flu. If you’re going to raise any livestock, chickens, pigs, rabbits, etc., you need to be smart about how you handle them whether there is a current headlining illness or not.
I look like a crazy lady on coop cleaning day. Gloves, safety glasses and a commercial dust mask. You don’t take chances. As soon as the coop is clean everything I’m wearing gets washed. We also have two coops which prevents overcrowding. During the day the chickens are outside in a large, fenced yard. The only time they are kept in their coops is when temperatures get dangerously cold, and this equates to only a few days a year.
We love our egg layers, but we don’t hug or kiss them. You’d be surprised, people do. Bottom line, try to prevent transmission by keeping everything clean. Keep yourself safe by maintaining some distance between you and your birds and cover your face and eyes when working in a coop.
Keep in mind that this virus is most prevalent among large wild birds such as turkey, ducks and geese, If you find a dead wild bird contact your state wildlife department. Here in Missouri you can send an email to: wildlifehealth@mdc.mo.gov The Missouri Department of Conservation states that often times there will be multiple bird deaths with a domestic flock. If you are concerned your own chickens could have perished from H1N1 you can call the Missouri Department of Agriculture at: 573-751-3377.
We’ll be keeping an eye on this. Like any virus it could mutate and change the title of this blog. For now, again, we’re keeping our chickens.
Fourteen Acre Wood
Audrey L Elder
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