A second case of avian influenza has been confirmed in a small flock in Kelowna, but it is unclear what the government considers a small flock.
READ MORE: The second case of poultry influenza in BC has been confirmed in Okanagan
JM Giroux, a small farmer in Okanagan and administrator of the BC Poultry Group’s Facebook page, said the term “small herd” could be interpreted to mean many things and there was no definition.
BC egg considers small farms to be farmers with less than 399 hens. According to CFIA guidelines, “small flocks” are considered farms with up to 1,000 birds.
The provincial government has not yet released its parameters for small and large flocks, which means that the “small flock” that has been infected may consist of hundreds of birds.
The BC Ministry of Agriculture and the CFIA were not available for comment on the definition of “small herd” during this article.
“Numerous field studies show that backyard herds are usually insignificant spreaders of bird flu,” Giroud said.
This claim is supported by research that finds that backyard herds contribute little to typical outbreaks of bird flu.
“What is really at risk are large-scale stratum farms,” Giroud said.
Giroux said birds in industrial livestock operations live in nearby neighborhoods and usually have low genetic diversity because they are from the same parent flock. He explained that birds are therefore the main candidates for infections with highly pathogenic viruses, such as H5N1.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Food said producers within a 12-kilometer radius of both the North and Central Okanagan had been notified of the positive test result.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the area around the infected farm has been quarantined, but the quarantine area in the Kelowna area has not been made public.
Giroux claims that most of the transmission between large farms is due to equipment sharing, truck pollution and contaminated clothing workers working on multiple farms.
The Government of Canada has proposed that poultry farmers implement biosecurity measures to prevent the spread of H5N1.
“Usually the transfer is between the farms of contaminated clothes and equipment,” said Giroud.
He said that although a recent sample of bald eagles found in the Delta was positive for the same disease, wild birds are not the main vector of the disease.
Giroud explained that farmers should not seek the destruction of wild birds as a means of controlling the spread of the virus.
The ministry issued an order stating that “all regulated trade operations in chicken and turkey, as well as trade producers of ducks and geese (both live and eggs) with 100 or more birds, must maintain indoor operations.”
Giroux said backyard producers could not move their herds indoors during the epidemic and instead suggested keeping herds in a clean, low-stress environment with access to a variety of foods, where they could be “as far as they can.” be wild. “
He stressed, “forcing your poultry indoors for months could expose them to other sources of disease and infection. For many outside the control area, this seems like a simple solution, but they do not understand the impact of poor indoor air quality and the mental stress for birds caused by detention.
“By no means am I trying to keep it to a minimum,” Giroud said of the weight of H5N1.
He said he acknowledged that the highly pathogenic virus could spread quickly and said that when a flock became infected, all birds were destroyed.
Giroux said he wanted to “encourage backyard growers and reduce dependence on commercial laying hen farms”.
He said this would reduce the impact of the disease on our food chain and improve the well-being of laying hens.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of BC, CFIA and poultry producers BC, enhanced prevention and preparedness, measures have been introduced and ongoing outbreaks are being monitored to prevent the spread.
In the past, bird flu strains have caused almost 100% mortality among infected birds with catastrophic effects on both commercial and small flock producers.
Capital News has contacted the Ministry of Agriculture and will update this article if more information becomes available.
READ MORE: UPDATE: Bird flu near Enderby creates big control area
Rangers_momJacqueline.Gelineau @ kelownacapnews.com Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and subscribe to our daily newsletter and subscribe to our daily newsletter.
Kelowna season, farm flu
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