Chicken Run: Brutal Prices for Bird Flu

When egg prices get higher, people refrain from making omelettes. As egg prices stay high and actually continue to rise due to situations like avian flu, people start to feel pressure in their wallets and start to enter their own hands with home economics. They buy chicks.

Avian influenza, H5N1, or highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) are not sudden, recent events. Since 2020, there have been cases of bird flu around the world. Disease Control Center (CDC) Track the case. In January 2022, the first HPAI H5N1 infection in wild birds since 2016 was reported by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). That same year, February, Animal and Plant Health Testing ServicesUSDA has confirmed an outbreak of avian flu in commercial flocks.

Commercial flocks are birds aimed at human consumption, such as eggs, breasts, thighs, and whole birds. These are owned by commercial companies and usually have surgery on over 1,000 birds. To handle eggs in an efficient and cost-saving way, many commercial organizations pack as little chickens into as little space as possible. It is hard to imagine that a highly contagious disease will stop spreading in these conditions.

Avian flu is particularly affected by domesticated birds such as poultry such as chicken, turkey, and ducks, and once infected with the disease, it is very rare for these domesticated birds to survive. To prevent the spread of H5N1, USDA follows three simple steps: First, detect, report and confirm that the bird is infected with HPAI. Next, they are quarantined, “depopulated” and dispose of the herd. Finally, disinfect the poultry area, run tests to make sure the virus is gone, and birds are refilled with birds. The herd is “It was destroyed” Within 48 hours of disease detection.

The act of “destroying” birds is not limited to commercial farms. If backyards, pets, animal sanctuaries and bird flu are detected, they are all at risk of depopulation. That's what was true West Place Animal Sanctuary When avian flu was first known in the United States in Tiverton in 2022, “there was the first case of avian flu in Rhode Island in October 2022,” recalls animal operations director Patrick Cole. “I should say the first thing It has been reported case. ”

West Place Animal Sanctuary is a rescue centre and lifelong home for animals abused and neglected by sheep, donkeys, pigs and horses, to dozens of ducks, geese, shaped birds, and exotic birds such as peacocks, pheasants, and yamaki. Sanctuary began taking precautions as soon as the first cases were reported in the US, from minimizing volunteers to using personal protective equipment (PPE) like booty covers for shoes. Despite measurements of safety protocols and biosecurity, the virus is still sneaking in.

The first sign of trouble came when older chickens, Henny and Penny, passed away. The pair were old chickens abandoned in Jamestown after ceasing egg production. They had survived abandonment and attacks by dogs and other predators before they arrived at West Place Animal Sanctuary. Penny died in the summer of 2022 due to natural causes. Henny passed that October and given her senior age, her death was briefly thought to be due to natural causes.

It was when my beloved, healthy, healthy two-year-old chicken was found dead overnight when he knew the sanctuary was in trouble. “She was acting normally for a minute before leaving the next distance,” recalls Wendy Taylor, founder and executive director of West Place. News of Dotty's sudden death ravaged Taylor, Cole and other volunteers.

Once Dotty was found, they reported the death as a suspected case of avian flu. “West Place is in compliance with Rhode Island law,” Taylor asserts. The Rhodem Environmental Management Agency (Ridem) has taken Dottie's body for testing, confirming the horrifying cause of death, avian flu. Collectively, Cole, Taylor, and The Ridem believe that wild Canadian geese have landed on their property, and “slacked” the disease through saliva, nose secretion and feces, rather than an unusual event.

After the report, “USDA, DOH and DEM descended into the sanctuary and euthanized most of the birds of their property,” she recalls. While government groups were trying to euthanize all birds on their property, lawyer Taylor negotiated the lives of birds that came out of the “danger” list and those isolated from flocks of chickens, such as peacocks and pheasants. In total, 28 healthy birds were killed. “This is why people don't report it [the bird flu]Cole says. “But we felt an obligation to help educate the public as much as possible.”

Seventeen days later, Taylor received a call from the Rhode Island government. Policies surrounding avian influenza were changing. It's not quarantining, it's become standard for a while. “The rules are always fluid,” Taylor said, “It's hard to keep birds safe and tracked. I wish there was more information. It's ready to use information. ”

Since the tragedy, West Place has doubled its biosecurity precautions. They built a new home for game birds and built it outside of infertility isolation areas so that the birds do not touch anything unskilled. The hatches of quarantine are surrounded so wild birds like Canadian geese cannot make contact with the sanctuary residents, and the grass under each hatch is thoroughly cleaned and sterilized, and volunteers wearing PPE will return again at night from indoor roosts to avoid touching suspicious ground.

Other editions of the property include wild bird deterrents. “We did a lot of work in the accommodation ponds so that they weren't appealing to wild geese and birds,” Taylor says. The light that volunteers are strung over the pond looks great for chic outdoor parties, but the overhead geese divides the ability of the string light to land easily in the water. The new Gamebird Building is located above a “lawn land strip” leading to the pond, splitting up a large green space where birds are considered easy landings.

Taylor and Cole are also looking at the weather forecast. Warm, wet winters like this one year mean the slower movement of Canadian geese, fewer carriers of viruses flying around the property, and therefore the ability to refrain from a complete “lockdown” of feather West Place residents. “The virus does not thrive in extreme heat or cold,” Cole explains. So on the other side, warm wet winters mean that the virus will not slept. “We want a hot, dry summer for animals, and that's the only way to 'end' quarantine for now. “In addition to the weather, the team has monitored reports of avian flu from Rhode Island and Massachusetts and attempted to go ahead of each wave.

Taylor encourages other farmers and flock owners in the area to follow these precautions and ride tips, such as not dealing with wild birds and wearing sterile clothes and shoes when interacting with household flocks.

“Testing these precautions means we saved the bird's life this time,” Taylor asserts. “Not taking these precautions will be a loss to the birds we have lost,” Cole adds. Still, the extra work thins out non-profit budgets. Additional precautions required add to unexpected costs, such as construction costs. So, Taylor created the West Place Memorial Fund to support his continued efforts in the fight against avian flu.

Four months after the tragedy of H5N1 in the Sanctuary, West Place was unable to accept any more birds despite growing demand for the service. To continue to protect the flock, the sanctuary implemented stricter protocols to accommodate incoming birds, including a 14-day quarantine period before the birds arrive. Since the incident in 2022, West Place has won “dozens of birds” including geese, ducks, quail, partridges, turkeys, chickens and cocks, and Taylor has won the list.

But as egg prices continue to dominate mainstream news, Taylor, Cole and West Place Team Braces onslaught to help people buy chicks and buy an onslaught of calls about unwanted or abused cocks and chickens. Worse, they support themselves for the continued wave of the virus. “If they're there [the people who want cheap eggs and talk about getting hens] Not equipped to prevent bird flu, they will have Dead birdAmong other issues, Cole observes. When you order a chick, about half of it becomes a cock, and many towns have a limit on the number of cocks that people can have in their flocks. He equates with buying a chick for an egg, and the price of an egg equals the same type of response as buying a “pandemic pet.” “No one is talking about the loss of life or how it puts a huge burden on a small, nonprofit sanctuary like us,” Cole says passionately.

“Don't run out of eggs and get birds just because they're getting more costs,” Taylor warns. Aside from the dramatic negative consequences Cole argued, Taylor warns that having a bird would cost just as much in the long run to properly feed and house it. She also warns that Game Bird is a “lifelong commitment.” Chickens can live for more than 10 years, and ducks can survive even longer.

We won't raise egg prices in the near future. The poultry industry, from backyard herds to commercial farms, is being ruined by HPAI. It's a chicken and egg issue, but perhaps it's something that needs to be reconfigured. What is the price of a dozen eggs and how does it compare to the price of life?

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