Keep Your Chickens Healthy
The year 2002 saw the outbreak of Exotic Newcastle Diseases, or END, that killed 3.16 million birds at a cost of 161-million dollars in the southwestern United States.
“END is a contagious and fatal viral disease affecting domestic, wild, and caged poultry and birds. It is one of the most infectious diseases of poultry in the world, and is so virulent that many birds die without showing any clinical signs. A death rate of almost 100 percent can occur in unvaccinated poultry flocks,” according to the Federal Register from the Department of Agriculture.
The 2002 outbreak started in southern California, but by 2003 END had rapidly spread to commercial poultry operations in several other counties, as well as, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas. By the time it was over, the Governor of California had declared a state of emergency, and the Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture had called the outbreak an “Extraordinary Emergency.” But what started this costly outbreak? Backyard poultry.
While outbreaks like END can never be completely eliminated, backyard poultry owners can mitigate much of the risk by employing some biosecurity measure of their own.
“Biosecurity is nothing new, it actually is a very common term, used in not only the poultry industry, and anything related to animal production, but it’s used also meaning protection of humans from diseases outbreaks,” said Nathaniel Tablante, an Associate Professor and Extension Poultry Veterinarian at University of Maryland and veterinarian who has been published on biosecurity and Avian Influenza.
While Maryland’s commercial poultry operations on the Eastern Shore employ veterinarians and staff to manage their biosecurity programs, according to Tablante, for backyard flocks the steps are relatively simple:
-
Isolation - Keep the birds in and unwanted animals out.
-
Traffic control - Keep unnecessary people and vehicles out.
-
Hygiene and sanitation - Keep the coop clean, and clean and sanitize tools and equipment that will come in contact with the flock.
These steps can help minimize the risk to national poultry production from backyard flocks, but they can also keep people safe.
Another safety precaution would-be chicken owners can take is ordering their chicks already vaccinated. According to Debbie B., a customer service representative at Murray McMurray Hatchery, customers have the option to vaccinate their baby chicks against Mareks or Coccidiosis, and there is a demand for it.
“Our baby chicks have not been vaccinated at time of hatch. Each customer has the option to vaccinate [their birds] before they are shipped out,” B. said. She added, “The orders we receive from customers requesting Mareks Vaccination is 60%, Coccidiosis Vaccination request is 40%.”
While humans likely won’t get sick if their chickens have Mareks or Coccidiosis, there are other diseases that can put backyard poultry owners at risk of getting sick, or even dying.
“We have what we call zoonotic diseases, the term used to describe disease that are transferable from animals to humans and vice versa” said Tablante. “More than 70% of poultry disease are zoonotic, could be viral, bacterial, protozoan, fungal.”
One of the most well known zoonotic diseases is salmonella. While a lot of salmonella strains are not harmful to humans, some are, according to Tablante. If salmonella hits a backyard flock, it can transfer to people, cause diarrhea, and even potentially death.
While salmonella might not seem that scary, bird flu may be. While not originally able to transfer to humans, avian influenza mutated into the strain H5N1, causing people to be at risk.
“There has to be a partnership between the State Department of Agriculture and backyard poultry owners,” said Tablante. One program that plays a key role in this partnership is the National Poultry Improvement Plan. According to their website, the program was started in The 1930’s as a collaboration between state and federal agencies and industry partners, but today The National Poultry Improvement Plan’s role as expanded to testing and monitoring programs for poultry including backyard chickens.
See what the rules are in Anne Arundel County for backyard chicken and for more information on raising backyard chickens by visiting Carl’s Chickens.