Now that fall is upon us and wild birds will soon begin their migrations in North America, it is especially important for poultry producers to make sure all biosecurity precautions are being carried out on their farms to prevent infections of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).
Emily Pittman, veterinary director, Georgia Poultry Laboratory Network, reminded attendees of the 2024 Georgia Layer Conference on September 23 what day it was, and that in 2023, October 6 was a billion-bird migration night.
“If you remember last year, this was about when we started having issues (with HPAI) again,” she said.
Figures from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Service (APHIS) show that in 2023, no cases of HPAI were confirmed between April 9 and October 4. Two commercial poultry farms had confirmed cases of HPAI on October 6, and before October was over, the United States had 25 commercial flocks struck by HPAI, followed by 57 commercial flocks in November and 45 commercial flocks in December.
Pittman said it is also worth knowing that while HPAI is not presently considered endemic in poultry, it is in wild birds, “which means it’s regularly occurring and typically present, so you should assume that a wild bird could be carrying avian influenza at this point.”
Avoid ‘crisis fatigue’
With the fall migration undoubtedly coming, and a billion-bird migration night possibly coming, it is particularly important to make sure all people working on or with your facility are trained on and practicing good biosecurity.
“I know that we are all possibly experiencing crisis fatigue. This disease is not good for anybody, especially not birds, responders and growers,” she said.
And while all poultry farms need to be training people on biosecurity, Pittman said it is especially important with the poultry complexes that have a high employee turnover rate. She emphasized that personnel not only need to be educated on what to do, but why it needs to be done.
“When we explain why we are doing things, there’s much higher level of compliance,” she said.
It’s OK to be ‘weird’ about biosecurity
One of the biggest risks to the well-being of poultry could be trespassers.
Pittman recommends using gates, locks and even cameras to control the situation. She also says there is nothing wrong with doing what some people might think is going overboard.
“Be weird. If someone’s on your property that’s not supposed to be there, call the cops. Ask them what they’re doing,” she said.
Recently in Georgia, Pittman said, there was a situation in which a truck that was haling a trailer of birds pulled up to a commercial poultry farm that was not far off the road. It is known that the trespasser at minimum poked his or her head (she did not identify the trespasser’s gender) into at least one poultry house. Fortunately, she said, a service technician was onsite and authorities were called.
View our continuing coverage of the global avian influenza situation.
To learn more about HPAI cases in commercial poultry flocks in the United States, Mexico and Canada, see an interactive map on WATTPoultry.com.
