| Author | |
Maddie
Forum All-Star
Joined: Dec 27 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1804
|
| Posted: April 22 2006 at 12:39am | IP Logged
|
 |
|
Our family enjoys a small scale "hobby farm". We have ducks, chickens, rabbits, and will soon be purchasing a dairy cow. I have read with alarm that bird flu can infect a small flock through droppings of wild birds into their barnyard.
We are keeping our chickens indoors because of the warnings I have read in the news, but I long to let them out to graze and produce healthy eggs for our family! I miss the barnyard atmosphere and the children miss interacting with their pets. I had planned to order another 25 this year, but hesitate to do so because of lack of space in the coop. Has anyone else studied the threat of bird flu? Is it media hype? Could it be as serious as the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918-1919?
Interestingly, I read in Asia that most chickens and ducks are still primarily raised outside where the birds interact with wild birds and humans, thus passing the virus back and forth among birds, humans, pigs and cats. In Thailand, officals banned outdoor grazing which resulted in a one year lull in the epidemic!
Anyone else raise chickens? What have you decided to do? I don't want to give up my chickens!  We love collecting our dozen eggs a day, but we will put family safety first.
__________________
~Maddie~
Wife to my dh and Momma of 9 dear ones
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Kathryn UK
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 27 2005
Location: England
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 924
|
| Posted: April 22 2006 at 2:23am | IP Logged
|
|
|
There has been a lot in the news here about bird flu as it reached Europe recently and we have just had the first case of the H5N1 virus - the strain that can be passed to humans - in a wild bird here in the UK. The government recommendation was that all domestic poultry within a 10 kilometre radius of the dead bird should be kept indoors. If they had found more cases then I think that would have been extended to a much larger area, but so far it looks like an isolated case. Unless bird flu has been identified in wild birds in your immediate area then I think the risk is minimal.
The H5N1 virus is a particularly nasty form of flu when caught by humans, with something like a 50% fatality rate. However, it does not transfer easily from birds to people, and it needs extended close contact with infected birds for a human to be infected. It does not spread between humans. The total world death rate from this form of flu is only around 100 so far, so certainly nothing like epidemic proportions. The worry is that flu strains mutate, and H5N1 could mutate into a strain that is infectious between humans, leading to a serious epidemic. However, any mutation could also affect the power of the virus, so it is entirely possible that in becoming more infectious it could also become far less lethal.
Will bird flu lead to a 1918-9 scale flu epidemic? Maybe; maybe not. What is more or less certain is that at some time there will be another massive and lethal flu epidemic because of the way flu viruses mutate. All flu viruses do this, not just bird flu, making it almost inevitable that now and again a particularly bad one will come along. However, we are in a much better situation than 1918-9, when people were suffering the after effects of a major war (poor nutrition etc). We also have the ability to develop and produce flu jabs pretty quickly, and the benefit of anti-viral drugs.
__________________
Kathryn
Dh Michael,  Rachel(3/95) Hannah(8/98) Naomi(6/06)  (11/07)
The Bookworm
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
saintanneshs
Forum All-Star
Joined: April 15 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 591
|
| Posted: April 24 2006 at 2:53pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Maddie,
I feel your concerns. We raise free-range chickens here in the southeast US (agriculturally-speaking) and dh and I have read about bird flu, listened to ag. professionals speak about it and discussed the threat and effects of it. Dh agrees that it's not "if" but "when" and "how bad." As far as the media goes, we have to remember that they're out to sell a product and the more they can frighten us, the more product they sell. Remember when the media scared everyone to death by saying (in the 1970s) that due to overpopulation we would run out of world resources by 2000? "Projections" are just that!
That said, I know it is important to be informed about the truths surrounding avian flu so that we might protect ourselves and our families. For those of us in the poultry business, we want to protect our birds, too. The question is, who do we listen to? I'd recommend media outlets in the field of agriculture for 2 reasons.
1. Ag media isn't making money selling their product to anyone but farmers and those in farm-related businesses. In other words, they don't get paid to be creative. As far as issues in agriculture that affect our business and the general public go, they get paid to tell farmers what to expect, how to handle it, and who to call for more information.
2. You're more likely to get straight information from the national food and health experts, with regard to agriculture, when it isn't slanted or misrepresented by a third party's interests (meaning the general local newspaper). For example, if you want to know about reliable cars, you ask a mechanic and not a dealer.
Here's an article published by Southeast Farm Press about the known truths of bird flu. This article dispels some of the circulating myths and while it doesn't answer all of my questions, it's a good place to start. I'll keep a heads-up for more articles, if you're interested.
Bird Flu: A Real Threat or Just Fiction? by Roy Roberson, Farm Press Editorial Staff
For now, we're keeping our birds on the same routine, outside as much as possible and hoping for the best while praying for St. Isidore the Farmer's intercession.
Try not to worry too much, Maddie. It's all in God's hands.
__________________
Kristine
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Kim F
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 03 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 326
|
| Posted: April 24 2006 at 5:31pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
mercola.com has some interesting thoughts on bird flu. He argues the data from Asia saying that while the virus mutated quickly in factory farms where there were large numbers of birds living confined together that only some 5% of cases in small village flocks did so and transferred to humans. The focus continues to be on private owners vs corporate farms however. In light of that many also argue there ARE ulterior motives and a product to sell. You have the pharmaceutical companies on the one hand and the special interest groups that greatly influence the governmental bodies on the other.
(A related controversy is over the National Animal ID program.)
We do have flu risks globally. They probably have a good bit to do with the way we raise animals and the way we medicate ourselves and them. I am not convinced we need to alter our private animal husbandry practices just yet and am concerned about what strict confinement might do to the chickens health and immunity anyway. If a case is found in the US, particularly locally, then we will rethink this and more likely just butcher. We can't control the wild birds though.
There is so much out of our control and impossible to really be certain of.
Kim
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Maddie
Forum All-Star
Joined: Dec 27 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1804
|
| Posted: April 24 2006 at 11:37pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Thank you, ladies, for all the great insight on this issue. I feel a little more at ease with the "threat" and plan to do more studying. The article mentioned by Kristine looks like a good place to start.
Kim, what is the National Animal ID program? I've never heard of it. Is this beyond dog licenses?
__________________
~Maddie~
Wife to my dh and Momma of 9 dear ones
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Kim F
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 03 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 326
|
| Posted: April 25 2006 at 8:39am | IP Logged
|
|
|
http://www.stopanimalid.org/
http://nonais.org/
http://www.countrysidemag.com/issues/1_2006.htm#article4
Here are a few links. Most of the homesteading and hobby farm mags have circulated this article in recent months(the countryside link) It explains the scope of the proposal and potential abuses. So few people outside the ag industry realize what is happening. Its Orwellian imo.
Kim
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
|
|
4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: bird flu
