Protecting backyard chickens from avian flu

Avian flu is a disease that affects domestic poultry including chickens, turkeys, pheasants, quail, ducks, and geese. Avian influenza (AI), or the “bird flu” is harmful to poultry flocks, especially when it’s the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). While low pathogenic avian influenza (LPAI) viruses cause mild respiratory signs, HPAI viruses cause severe, systemic disease with up to 100% mortality. Keeping your backyard chickens safe from avian flu protects your family, wild bird populations, and commercial poultry food-supply farms. 

 

Backyard poultry are increasingly common and since they’re often kept outdoors with low biosecurity compared to commercial poultry farms, when avian flu is circulating in wild bird populations, backyard chickens are at high risk of exposure and disease. As wild birds migrate through backyards across the country, it’s important to take steps to protect your backyard flocks. If a small flock of chickens were to get sick with avian flu, it can end up travelling to commercial flocks. While poultry products (eggs, meat) remain safe to eat, suspected and confirmed cases of HPAI have already impacted the country’s poultry food supply, causing reduced availability and higher prices at the grocery store.

Review these preventive actions to keep your backyard birds healthy. 

Prevention is key

• Don’t share equipment or reuse materials like egg cartons with other bird owners.
• Keep feeders and waterers clean and out of reach of wild birds. Clean up feed spills.
• Clean and disinfect equipment that comes in contact with your birds such as shovels and rakes.
• Clean out and disinfect poultry housing frequently to limit contact of birds with their waste.
• Limit who visits your birds at home. If someone else must visit your birds, ask them about what other bird contact they’ve recently had. Plus, ask them to wash their hands and wear clean clothes and footwear.

Keep wildlife and wild birds away from your flock

• Use an enclosed shelter and fence outdoor areas.
• Use smaller mesh hardware cloth to keep wild birds out, while allowing outdoor time for your flock.
• Change feeding practices if wild birds continue to be present.
• Put tools and supplies away to prevent them from coming into contact with wild birds.

Keep your flock from other flocks

• Prevent your birds from having contact with other birds that could introduce avian flu.
• Avoid contact with other poultry or birds prior to contact with your own. Change clothes, shower, and wash hands between contact with others’ birds and your own.
• Separate your birds from your neighbor’s birds.
• Separate new or returning birds from your flock for at least 30 days.

Watch for signs of disease

Detecting HPAI early is key to limiting the spread. Unfortunately, one of the first signs of HPAI is sudden, unexplained death. In 2022, most HPAI cases report poultry drinking less water before unexplained death. Other signs include the following:

• Ruffled feathers, purple/dry combs, wattles and legs
• Severe diarrhea
• Drop in egg production, misshapen or thin-shelled eggs
• Trouble walking
• Lack of energy or appetite
• Decreased food intake
• Nasal discharge, sneezing coughing
• Difficulty breathing

Although rare, there have been cases of avian flu spreading to other animals such as cats and dogs when those animals ate meat from infected birds. To prevent transmission to your pets, never let them eat wild or dead birds. To protect you, your pets and your flock, wash and sanitize your hands and put on clean clothing and shoes before and after interacting with your flock.

Avian flu is a reportable disease, meaning that bird owners must notify authorities if avian flu is suspected in their flock, even for small backyard flocks. Anyone who finds a sick or dead wild bird is encouraged to report the finding so authorities can test for avian flu. Call the USDA toll free at 1-866-536-7593.

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