Chicken farmers are calling on backyard poultry owners to protect their animals from disease to help stop the nation’s largest outbreak of bird flu from spreading and further affecting the egg industry.
After the detection of the H7N3 and H7N9 strains, hundreds of thousand of chickens have been euthanised, and quarantine zones have been set up around five farms near Meredith and Terang in Victoria.
Despite Coles recently implementing purchasing limits on eggs, industry leaders have reassured consumers that egg shortages are unlikely, as only about 4 per cent of Australia’s egg laying hens have been caught up in the outbreak.
Owner of Creswick Open Range Eggs, Boyd Carmody, runs a low-density flock north of Ballarat — about 70 kilometres from the nearest bird flu detection — where chickens are free to roam in paddocks all day.
He has put extra biosecurity measures in place to protect his birds but said one of the biggest threats to his operation was neighbouring backyard chickens becoming infected.
“As a pasture-based farm, our biggest threat is any pathogens that are breeding up in backyard flocks,” Mr Carmody said.
“We have regular visits from veterinary consultants, a couple of regular medications, but the backyard flocks aren’t getting that sort of care.
“There should be [more] education from the government — what to do and not to do.”
What can you do?
Victoria’s chief vet, Graeme Cooke, said bird owners across the state should be vigilant, as avian influenza was present in Australian wild birds, the cause of the latest outbreak, and from time to time spilled over into the domestic poultry population.
Dr Cooke said more than 100 agriculture department staff were working with farmers to test and depopulate affected farms, conduct wildlife surveys and ramp up awareness campaigns.
“This the largest outbreak of avian influenza Australia has seen,” he said.
“It’s showing itself to have very high consequences and catastrophic results for affected farms, so, therefore, the response is at scale and focused on control.
“Within the controlled area, backyard chickens are required to be housed, and if that’s not possible, then separate them from wild birds as much as possible.”
Dr Cooke said chicken owners should always exercise caution when interacting with their chickens by washing hands with warm soapy water before and after handling.
It is also advised that visitors who may have had contact with other poultry or wild birds cover their footwear or change their shoes.
“Another simple example [to protect your flock] is not feeding chickens in a way that allows them to mix with wild birds or even water sources,” he said.
Protecting against disease outbreaks
Although there are no official movement restrictions or quarantine enforced by Agriculture Victoria at the Creswick Open Range Farm, Mr Carmody has put additional biosecurity protocols in place, while allowing his birds to remain free-roaming.
“We’ve restricted the movements of people coming in and out of the property. We’ve only got our regular staff and we don’t allow visitors,” he said.
“We don’t sell eggs from the property and when we do sell spent hens [birds who no longer regularly lay eggs], we’ll cage them up and sell them a couple of kilometres away from the property.
“We just can’t risk having people walking around with dirty boots and introducing [diseases] into our hens.”
All vehicles that enter the farm, such as trucks carrying feed or egg packaging materials, are also washed and bleached to reduce the chances of contaminating the farm.
Mr Carmody also has several Maremma dogs to guard his chickens from predators such as foxes and large birds of prey. It comes with the bonus of chasing away wild birds that can carry diseases.
“They have a taste for anything that flies over or tries to walk in our paddocks. They’ll bark and chase anything. The sheepdogs are an absolute godsend,” he said.
“We’ve fenced off anywhere there is standing water and we’ve dozed in dams, so it’s unattractive for waterbirds.
“We’ve also fenced off all the treed areas. We don’t let our hens scratch around under trees because the migratory birds roost in the trees, leave their manure behind and that’s where the problem’s gonna be introduced to the flock.”
Mr Carmody said the hens’ drinking water was also treated with a chlorine solution, an additional sanitising agent if a wild bird happened to make contact.
Free-range egg farmers house hens to stop disease
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission [ACCC] has also allowed producers farming on the outskirts of the department’s controlled region, who usually have free-roaming birds, to maintain ‘free-range’ labels on eggs if they are temporarily housing them in sheds to avoid disease.
“The ACCC is aware that free-range egg producers may be required under certain government orders to house their flocks for certain periods in response to avian influenza outbreaks,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
Anyone with more than 50 poultry must have a Property Identification Code (PIC) that helps Agriculture Victoria contact and assist in the event of an outbreak of an animal disease, such as avian influenza.
PIC’s are free and available even if you own just a few backyard chooks.
Anyone who notices abnormal behaviour in their flocks, or unexplained deaths, is urged to contact the 24-hour Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline on 1800 675 888.
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