I was recently asked, as a backyard poultry owner, what I plan to do when avian influenza (H5N1) gets to the U.S. and what I currently do to keep diseases off my farm.

I am very familiar with infectious diseases and bio-containment since I work as a researcher with transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (CWD, scrapie, TME). Fortunately, birds are not susceptible to these diseases but our flock of sheep could get scrapie if I happened to bring it home. The practices I follow keep all of my animals, my family and my community safe from disease.

Our free-range flock of chickens, ducks, geese and guineas have the potential of exposure to the multitude of diseases currently carried by wild birds, diseases that the show birds pick up at a show, diseases carried by new birds added to the flock, diseases from people who tour the farm, and diseases that we may track back to the farm.

Some of Cherrie's free-range birds roosting on a fence on her farm.

If I were one to be paranoid and stressed about risk, these threats would bother me, but I am calm because I have educated myself, have taken reasonable precautions and am prepared to do what might be necessary to ensure that my flock won't contribute to a disease like H5N1 infecting backyard poultry flocks around North America (let alone mutate to be transmissible among humans).

Safety Precautions

I do the following to ensure that our birds remain healthy:

• Participate in the National Poultry Improvement Plan to prevent egg-transmitted diseases (I am certified to test for Salmonella pullorum; I test my flock and perform the tests for other people)
• Vaccinate against the diseases that they are likely to encounter from wild birds and other chickens here in the Midwest:

• Mycoplasma gallisepticum (14, 28, 42 days old)
• Newcastle disease/infectious bronchitis (10 and 35 days, 12 weeks, 6, 9, 12, 15 months)
• Infectious laryngotracheitis (6 weeks old)
• Marek's disease (1 day old)
• Avian encephalomyelitis (8 weeks)
• Fowl pox (10 weeks old)
• Fowl cholera (12 weeks old)
• I will vaccinate against H5N1 when the vaccine becomes available (it has been created but isn't available to U.S. poultry producers yet)
• Provide diatomaceous earth in dust baths to keep external parasites (again from wild birds) at a minimum
• Maximize health by not crowding birds and providing lots of fresh air
• Bring in clean birds
• Keep records of all birds coming in and out
• Quarantine new or show birds for 30 days
• Rotate pastures to prevent parasite and/or disease cycles
• Remove any ill birds and quarantine those that may have been exposed
• Keep cats in the poultry areas to control mice and the parasites they carry (yes, cats leave the chickens alone)
• Keep off-farm clothes separate from farm clothes
• Have designated farm clothes that don't leave the farm and are only used for chores
• Wash any clothes that are worn to any chicken event/tour
• Remove swallow and pigeon nests from poultry areas, keep finches and sparrows away from feeders, scare off crows and starlings, keep wild ducks and geese from mixing with my birds
• Minimize mosquito breeding habitat on the farm
• I am training a livestock protection dog (breed: Akbash) to chase off wild birds
• Keep up to date on bird disease issues (being informed is critical to keeping a normal stress level and making rational decisions about a crisis)