Avian influenza found in South Carolina

[RoyalChick]

I don't think McMuray has breeder birds. Don't they just buy hatching eggs from nearby farms? Could be wrong but I know some of the big hatcheries buy from Amish farms so I assumed they did it the same way.

Oh interesting. I don't know. In their video they say both 'one of the farms' and 'one of our barns' - so maybe it is both.
Again on the video they definitely explain that they are not delivering eggs/chicks to customers in order to preserve them to restock the breeder stock - but I guess that could mean restock the farms, I just took it to mean that they had breeder stock themselves, but I may well be wrong.

 

[Brooks_]

I don't think McMuray has breeder birds. Don't they just buy hatching eggs from nearby farms? Could be wrong but I know some of the big hatcheries buy from Amish farms so I assumed they did it the same way.

Yes and no. They contract with farms. MM may or may not own the stock.

 

[Sonya9]

Sadly, this tells me nothing about my (and, I assume your) clay soils. My pasture shoes looked like I'd been walking in orange concrete after last week's rains. I'm also curious about its applicability to simply stepping accidentaly in some duck poo - which is pretty sticky {_ _ _ _}.

Regardless, its all risk management, and I've taken what I beleive to be reasonable precautions in view of percieved risk. The dice have been rolled, just waiting to see what they come up.

Article says only "heavily contaminated" soils spread the virus. Keep in mind they are probably doing this in a lab with 2 sq ft of soil so "heavily contaminated" would probably represent WAY more than you will get in an open grassy field exposed to sun and heat with a few stray poops.

Does your place have wild duck poo all over? Cause if so that would be a game changer. My netted pen and rural yard only gets the odd finch or cardinal coming in to snag some leftover scratch (and yes mine still free range like normal).

 

[Sonya9]

Oh interesting. I don't know. In their video they say both 'one of the farms' and 'one of our barns' - so maybe it is both.
Again on the video they definitely explain that they are not delivering eggs/chicks to customers in order to preserve them to restock the breeder stock - but I guess that could mean restock the farms, I just took it to mean that they had breeder stock themselves, but I may well be wrong.

That video was very vague (and spliced every 5 seconds so they struggled to make it, as well as make their point clear). At the beginning when he said "our facility has been cleared" I took that to mean "cleared of all birds...every bird wiped out" then later realized he meant "clear of infection".

 

[HeatherKellyB]

That video was very vague (and spliced every 5 seconds so they struggled to make it, as well as make their point clear). At the beginning when he said "our facility has been cleared" I took that to mean "cleared of all birds...every bird wiped out" then later realized he meant "clear of infection".

I thought the video was informative enough to get the point across. I imagine they're struggling mentally, even as business owners. This is a HUGE blow to their business and that is overwhelming for most people, even knowing they'll recoup some of the financial loss, the stigma of this being associated with their hatchery will live on for a while. I'm certainly not trying to defend them in any way. I'm only explaining how I interpreted their video. I imagine they have a spokesperson but I find it somewhat respectful that they chose to do this video themselves. It serves as a sign in how important this is.

Edited to add: I'm not sure if they have a spokesperson but as big as they are, I would think they'd have one.
I admit that I may be completely wrong and they do videos often, but my perception remains the same. If they were actual scientists or government employees, I might expect more, but I felt like they did a decent job. My "review" doesn't matter but I figured I'd throw it out there because it's different. I don't discount your thoughts on this either

 

[Sonya9]

I thought the video was informative enough to get the point across. I imagine they're struggling mentally, even as business owners. This is a HUGE blow to their business and that is overwhelming for most people, even knowing they'll recoup some of the financial loss, the stigma of this being associated with their hatchery will live on for a while. I'm certainly not trying to defend them in any way. I'm only explaining how I interpreted their video. I'm sure they have a spokesperson but chose to do this video themselves, which I find important.

So true! The other day someone was worried because they got chicks from Hoovers in IA. I told her if a commercial egg or meat facility had an outbreak it wouldn't ruin their reputation, but if it happened to a hatchery and lead to all their private customers being tracked down and countless backyard flocks culled the hatchery would be ruined forever. The fear of it ruining their business has to mean they are doing everything humanely possible to prevent an incident.

 

[DonyaQuick]

I will say that just about everyone else in the area we drive by has their birds locked down and under as much cover as they can give.

Perhaps some folks are still unaware of what is going on.

I think for some they do know about it but either don't have the time/resources to pen up all their poultry or it's just a risk they're willing to take since the birds were intended to be free range (in the grand scheme of things, it is still a very low probability event). I get the feeling in my area that a decent percentage of people do know about HPAI since I've heard chatter at the feed store, I see posts about it on local social media groups, and a lot of people buying/selling poultry have started meeting off-site to exchange the birds. But there are still loads of free range chickens, geese, etc. all over the place.

 

[RoyalChick]

I thought the video was informative enough to get the point across. I imagine they're struggling mentally, even as business owners. This is a HUGE blow to their business and that is overwhelming for most people, even knowing they'll recoup some of the financial loss, the stigma of this being associated with their hatchery will live on for a while. I'm certainly not trying to defend them in any way. I'm only explaining how I interpreted their video. I imagine they have a spokesperson but I find it somewhat respectful that they chose to do this video themselves. It serves as a sign in how important this is.

Edited to add: I'm not sure if they have a spokesperson but as big as they are, I would think they'd have one.
I admit that I may be completely wrong and they do videos often, but my perception remains the same. If they were actual scientists or government employees, I might expect more, but I felt like they did a decent job. My "review" doesn't matter but I figured I'd throw it out there because it's different. I don't discount your thoughts on this either

I had the same reaction to the video - it really must be devastating for them - and I respected that they showed up themselves to explain.
I also think the actions they are taking to preserve blood lines makes sense even though many customers will be put out by not getting orders.

 

[Sonya9]

I think for some they do know about it but either don't have the time/resources to pen up all their poultry or it's just a risk they're willing to take since the birds were intended to be free range (in the grand scheme of things, it is still a very low probability event). I get the feeling in my area that a decent percentage of people do know about HPAI since I've heard chatter at the feed store, I see posts about it on local social media groups, and a lot of people buying/selling poultry have started meeting off-site to exchange the birds. But there are still loads of free range chickens, geese, etc. all over the place.

I am sure most everyone in Iowa is concerned right now. I live in Georgia and they banned poultry shows and swap meets in February but we haven't had even one case of it in domestic flocks, just a handful of wild bird cases. Course that also depends on how many wild birds are sent in for testing, last I saw Alabama only had "one" wild bird test positive.

 

[saysfaa]

The disease infected a flock in the next county over; this weekend, while we were out planning to expand our run (by the way—once that is done, should we somehow sanitize the earth before letting the flock in there?),...

I would burn it if it is a grass field. Maybe also if is a bare field by spreading fuel for the fire over the area.

Bleach only works on clean surfaces because it is inactivated as it reacts with dirt type particles.