A Burton woman who lost her entire flock of 70 chickens to avian flu over the course of a week has a warning for other poultry farmers: avoid putting bird feeders out in the spring.
Peggy Ife says when her first couple of free range hens died, she thought they had been chased by a dog and died of fright or exhaustion, something she had seen before.
But in the following days as more birds began to die, she knew it wasn’t stress-related. From online research, they realized it was likely avian flu. They let all of their neighbours know, placed notices on various Facebook sites, and contacted the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
“I needed to let people know that just because we’re kind of away from everything and have little backyard flocks, it doesn’t matter, it’ll get you,” Ife says.
On Friday, the agency confirmed the birds had the highly pathogenic H151 strain.
Ife says while she had her current flock for 17 years, their number was unusually high because a friend who moved away last October gave him all of his laying hens. Although all were doing well, none survived the flu outbreak. Ife says inspectors would not have allowed them to be kept anyway.
She believes the culprit was her bird feeders, which she filled up for the first time in two weeks a couple of days before the first hens began dying.
“I filled them all and when I went outside, I could hear wild birds just like crazy,” she says.
Once she figured out it was the likely source of the problem, she removed all of the feeders, but it was too late: “There must have been a whole flock come through infected, because it hit so hard so fast.”
Ife says every year she has put her bird feeders out and allowed her chickens to roam free, but has never had a problem before.
“It opened my eyes, so it will be a different story every spring and fall. I’ll just feed the wild birds when the snow flies because it’s safer for the girls. Or just don’t let them run loose, which is really hard for me.”
To her knowledge, no other local chickens have been affected. Ife says it is “really hard” to lose everything. Some of the birds she raised for meat were within a couple of weeks being butchered.
She plans to rebuild her flock, but says it will not be as large as before. Ife says once everything is sterilized and passes inspection, there will be a three-week wait before any more birds can be brought in, meaning she may have to wait until mid-June.
“I’ve never been without birds. People kind of look at me, but I find them therapy. When I’m having a bad day I go down with some treats. I had some bantys who were like pets. I had a couple who would come and sit and make squeaky noises, actually kind of talk to you. Now they’re all gone.”
Ife says she has sold eggs to help pay for feed, but raising chickens has been primarily a hobby. Last year she added some leghorns to her flock, after years of searching.
“I got so excited. Now I’ve got to go hunting again because they’re gone.”
Her advice to others with chickens: “If you’re going to free range in spring, the minute you see a robin, pull your feeders. Be careful.”
