Megan MacArthur

The Tennessee Poultry Association (TPA) recently released an update on the scheduled Grower Meetings that were to be held at the following locations this year:

Martin, TN- November 4^th and Cleveland, TN- November 6^th

However, due to a recent outbreak of avian influenza in a location near Tennessee, the TPA announced the cancellation of both events as a preventive measure to ensure biosecurity against HPAI.

Avian influenza remains a closely monitored disease for the poultry industry. With the changing weather comes the migration of birds that are natural hosts to HPAI. Remaining vigilant in good biosecurity practices inside and outside the poultry houses, and staying aware of outbreaks, can make all the difference to your flock’s health.

Biosecurity in these challenging times remains the best chance to prevent the spread of HPAI.

As a reminder, keep the following biosecurity points in mind:

Isolate your flock as much as possible. Keep birds indoors to prevent poultry flocks from coming in contact with wild or migratory birds. Restrict poultry access to any source of water that may have been contaminated by wild birds. Backyard flock owners should separate birds by age and not mix species. Producers often mix ages and species without incident, but it increases the risk to do these things, and the goal of biosecurity is to decrease risk as much as possible.  We cannot totally eliminate the disease threat, but we can take steps to decrease the risk. Traffic control…know who comes and goes and why.  Keep a visitor’s log.  Very few people, outside of you and your family, have any business around your chickens. Your service technician, live operations personnel, and feed truck drivers must come and go but outside of these folks, the list gets pretty short of anyone that needs to be around your commercial poultry flock. If you employ hired help on your farm, make sure they understand that they should have zero contact with other birds. If you go to town for parts or to the feed store or café or other places where other chicken growers may visit, do not go home and check your chickens without first taking a shower and changing clothes and boots/shoes. You do not want to track disease home to your birds.  Increased traffic flow means increased disease risk so take necessary precautions. Sanitation is a good thing. Clean and disinfect everything…materials, equipment, people. Use footbaths at entrance doors and change the disinfectant regularly to keep it fresh. Keep hand sanitizer in the control room and use it. Dedicate footwear to only be worn in the poultry house or use disposable booties to prevent tracking disease in the house. This requires more time and effort, but what is it worth to you to keep avian influenza away from your flock? For those that have raised commercial birds for years, this is simple common sense. However, for those new to commercial poultry production, this is something you must quickly learn and understand and follow through to protect your flock.

Disease moves by direct or indirect transmission. Direct transmission is physical contact between infected and healthy birds. Indirect transmission occurs when a disease agent is carried to susceptible birds by a host of methods…humans (likely the #1 threat), contaminated feed, water or environment, shared equipment, rodents, pets, etc. Follow USDA’s six steps to keep birds healthy:

1. Keep your distance
2. Keep it clean
3. Don’t haul disease home
4. Don’t borrow disease from your neighbor
5. Know the warning signs of infectious disease
6. Report sick birds.

How to report sick birds. Commercial producers should contact their service technician or live operations manager immediately at the first sign of illness. Backyard producers may contact any of the following for assistance:

1. Your local county Extension agent
2. Your local veterinarian
3. University of Tennessee Extension Poultry Specialist (931-486-2129)
4. TN Department of Agriculture Poultry Program Coordinator (615-361-4997)
5. C. E. Kord Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory (615-837-5125)
6. Tennessee State Veterinarian’s Office (615-837-5120)
7. UTCVM Immunology/Virology Lab (865-974-5880) 

For backyard producers, your county agent may not be a chicken person, and your local vet is almost certainly not a chicken veterinarian, but they will know individuals that are chicken people that will be able to help you.  For commercial producers, contact your service technician at the first sign of anything out of the ordinary including a drastic drop in water intake, birds coughing and sneezing, increased mortality, etc.

As of October 31, there have been 66 confirmed cases of avian influenza in the U.S in the last 30 days. Practice good biosecurity and keep your flock safe. Remember…. Isolation, Traffic Control, and Sanitation. You must have all three to have good biosecurity.