Avian influenza found in South Carolina

[TheBantamRooTwo]

Welcome to BYC! There have already been a number of cases in Georgia. It's in almost every state right now.
View attachment 3051160

Oh, I didn't realize it was already in Georgia...

Why, then, is Tractor Supply and everywhere else still selling chicks and ducklings?

 

[TooCheep]

Because people still want them for egg production and other uses. If you keep your chickens in a covered coop/run, then they are strongly protected from infection. Water fowl are the primary transport vector from my reading.

 

[raingarden]

I just looked this up and watched. I knew that's how the large commercial facilities were being handled, but I've also heard and read repeatedly that they won't kill birds that don't test positive. According to that video, they do kill everything, separate area/flock or not, and testing positive or not. If they are trying to encourage people to report cases, I have to say that not permitting quarantine of separated flocks that test negative is certainly not going to help. Kind of ticked at Penn State now because they were one of the sources that gave answers making it sound like they wouldn't just come in and kill everything like that.

I'm going to trust that the people we employ (through taxes) to handle these things know what they are doing. Yeah, I know that's risky trust but it's all we have to work with right now. The fact that HPAI could mutate and turn into another human pandemic might justify taking extreme measures with chickens.

 

[TooCheep]

@TheBantamRooTwo

Here is a link to the HPAI infection tracker. This page shows wildlife cases (MGG's screenshot):
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ou...vian-influenza/hpai-2022/2022-hpai-wild-birds
There is a link from that page to another one that tracks commercial/home flocks. However this second page isn't showing much at the moment. Apparently, they are updating the listing.

 

[RubelliteRose]

I just looked this up and watched. I knew that's how the large commercial facilities were being handled, but I've also heard and read repeatedly that they won't kill birds that don't test positive. According to that video, they do kill everything, separate area/flock or not, and testing positive or not. If they are trying to encourage people to report cases, I have to say that not permitting quarantine of separated flocks that test negative is certainly not going to help. Kind of ticked at Penn State now because they were one of the sources that gave answers making it sound like they wouldn't just come in and kill everything like that.

It may depend upon the state and how separated the flocks are. The flocks in the video really weren't separated very far apart and he had so many that I imagine it would have been only a short amount of time before they all became infected.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I'm just catching up with this thread, so came across yours. Some are putting up tarps. I don't know what your set up is, bird netting won't help. The new area we're building will have 1/2" hardcloth top to bottom, and I'm thinking about running door/window screen over the top to keep out the droppings. They pick up and atleast taste just about anything while pecking around.

I’m planning on tarps for the Guinea run but my chicken and rooster runs have shade cloth up. Tarps would be better but shade cloth should provide some protection. My major goal was to keep my birds away from our pond.

 

[NanaK]

Just saw this for NC.​

Poultry shows and public sales suspended until further notice due to
High Path Avian Influenza
Poultry owners urged to keep birds indoors and report sick birds​

RALEIGH – State Veterinarian Mike Martin announced today that all North Carolina poultry shows, and public sales will be suspended due to the threat of highly pathogenic avian influenza. This includes all exhibitions, farm tours, shows, sales, flea markets, auction markets, swaps and meets pertaining to poultry and feathered fowl in North Carolina. These activities are suspended until further notice.

https://ncagr.gov/paffairs/release/...salessuspendeduntilfurthernoticeduetoHPAI.htm

 

[allbirds4me]

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?), we could see our new neighbors' flock roaming around. At least they have not come over here again, though since our dog chased the rooster back to his place and our birds have been locked up for at least the past couple of weeks, not so much temptation.

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.

sorry folks but you cannot disinfect gross filth , IE: dirt , poop and the like.
Best thing to do is to till the soil when able to, perhaps lime it and let the sunshine do it's work over a period of time. Sunshine is one of the best disinfectants there is.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

I keep hearing that all birds on the property will be culled if one bird on the property is confirmed to be infected with h5n1. I have three areas of flocks, with one of them being on the other side of the property. I suspect if they start to make exceptions here and there, it leaves a lot of room for error and for human manipulation. I hope and pray I don't have to find out any details about this, but it was discussed here earlier in this thread.

 

[Sydney65]

It is also chickens and what the rest of the world considers "poultry" but was not destined for the food chain, it would seem. They're using some strange definition to determine what is poultry and non-poultry.

"Non-poultry avian is any species of bird that is not considered poultry. Poultry includes chickens, guinea fowl, turkeys, waterfowl, pigeons, doves, peafowl, and game birds under the husbandry of humans." https://www.michigan.gov/mdard/animals/id-movement/movement/pet-birds-non-poultry-avian