If you’ve been perusing the hatchery catalog to buy baby chicks for your backyard chicken coop, you may notice some breeds are unavailable when you go to order them.
That’s likely because some breeders probably lost their flock to avian flu, according to Kitty O’Neil, agricultural climate resiliency specialist with the Cornell Cooperative Extension.
She talked with Northern Light co-host, Monica Sandreczki, about the impact of avian flu on North Country poultry farms, what to do if you notice sick birds in your backyard flock, and developments for an animal vaccine.
Click HERE to listen to the full podcast. Transcript below.
KITTY O’NEIL: We always see an uptick in avian influenza outbreaks or reports in the spring because there are a number of migrating species, chiefly, waterfowl – diving and dabbling ducks, geese and swans – who can carry the virus without getting sick, so they can spread it everywhere they go. They often bring it with them from the South. We see an uptick of outbreaks on farms in the spring, beginning in February. We’re part way through it now. New outbreaks may taper off in May and June, as there’s fewer migrating species.
MONICA SANDRECZKI: Have you heard about outbreaks on North Country poultry farms?
O’NEIL: I haven’t. It’s never out of the realm of possibility. There have been several outbreaks in poultry, chickens, turkeys, or commercial or backyard flocks in New York. There may have been one or two in the last couple of years in a couple of our North Country counties. I haven’t seen anything this spring.
SANDRECZKI: When those outbreaks happen, there’s usually a lot of government support for those farms, too.
O’NEIL: Unfortunately, we have a lot of people working for the USDA and its subparts who have become really good at helping farms deal with this over the last 10 or 15 years. They can help farms deal with big outbreaks. Unfortunately, there’s birds to dispose of because it can wipe out a whole house of layers or broilers very quickly. And, of course, you want to do that well to limit the spread to [other animals] and be as hygienic as possible about all of it. There’s government agencies that can help deal with that kind of thing.
With smaller outbreaks, like a backyard flock, for example, I think it’s a good idea to report it and get some guidance on how to deal with it yourself or with a little bit of help. That also informs some of those same agencies about where these outbreaks are happening, what species was it, and they may have some follow up to do. In fact, I’m sure they will.
RESOURCES:
> Resources for Backyard Flocks, from the Cornell cooperative Extension of Erie County
> USDA’s Defend the Flock! program, including Biosecurity 101
> CDC guidance on avian flu outbreaks, types of viruses and impacts on people and pets
> Report sick birds, unexplained high number of deaths, or sudden drop in egg production, by contacting the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets’s Division of Animal Industry at (518) 457-3502 or the USDA at (866) 536-7593. Unusual illness and deaths of wild birds can be reported to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation, (631) 444-0310.
SANDRECZKI: Who all does avian flu affect?
O’NEIL: It’s primarily carried by these ducks and geese and swans, but I’ve been learning that it’s appearing in some other bird species, too, as they encounter the virus in the environment or perhaps scavenge on a sick or dying bird. It showed up in hawks, eagles, owls and even crows, grackles and pigeons. It’s not impossible for these birds to be sick, but it’s a lot less likely. There’s a lot less reports of those birds, but that contributes to the spread, for sure.
SANDRECZKI: Including the latest news in the last month: dairy cattle.
O’NEIL: That’s why it’s really in the news, because that’s a new development. I don’t think we’ve had that before this spring. It started in Texas and Kansas had a couple of dairy herd outbreaks. One of the farms even had a couple of workers test positive [with] super minor symptoms in humans, but that causes even the CDC to pay attention, in addition to all those USDA agencies.
We know how these viruses can shift and change a little bit from our own experiences [with COVID-19], but this one appears to have done that where we haven’t seen it in dairy cattle before. We have had one herd in New York State become a little bit sick. Fortunately, the symptoms are less severe in dairy cattle, but it does depress milk production for a while, but it’s not quite as devastating as it is for a poultry farm.
SANDRECZKI: How does it spread?
O’NEIL: These migrating birds can leave behind feces or saliva. It can be encountered by other animals or car tires that then track it on to a farm, so it can move from farm to farm if we move animals from one farm to another. In fact, the USDA has put some import restrictions on cattle from affected states into unaffected states.
It can be tracked by people or vehicles, which is why you may encounter more signs on your neighbor farms: “the public is not welcome to visit” or “no visitors.” Or, you can visit, but you have to put on coveralls and walk through this foot bath first.
Biosecurity is always a priority on farms, especially poultry farms. They have some additional risks compared to dairy farms in that way. It’s important to honor those requests because we want our North Country farms to remain free from this problem.
SANDRECZKI: Does it affect eggs that people eat?
O’NEIL: That’s the cool thing. They’re totally keeping an eye on the food system as a result of all this. So far, there is absolutely no risk to food products produced. So far, it has not been detected.
SANDRECZKI: You’ve said [avian flu] is a quickly developing field for [prevention and treatment] strategies.
O’NEIL: It is. I didn’t know until a few days ago about the vaccines that are being developed.
There’s already a duck vaccine available in France that’s been working really well.
Here in the US, we have a poultry vaccine in development that looks good and they expect it to maybe be rolled out in 18 months or so. And there’s very early discussions on a cattle vaccine for avian flu, as well. The USDA keeps track of outbreaks, so there’s news about outbreaks every week. The CDC, USDA and even local health departments are paying attention to it and they have some surveillance and reporting mechanisms in place. It’s a biological system. It’s very dynamic. We’ll continue to learn new things going forward.
Kitty O’Neil is an agricultural climate resiliency specialist with the Cornell Cooperative Extension. She joins NCPR’s Northern Light every month to discuss what’s happening on North Country farms.
Source: NCPR
