A call to action for backyard flock owners

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My day is bookended by important meetings with Marge, Myrna and six of their colleagues.

The morning gathering deals with facilities management, real-time metrics and a health check-in. How‘s everyone feeling? Is the coop clean? Does food and water need topping off? And, how many eggs did they lay?

The early evening agenda is similar, with an added security assessment. The main priority: Ensuring all eight made it back inside for the night from their outdoor run. A little solar-powered door on the coop comes down at sunset and every so often someone gets stranded outside. While the enclosure should be predator-proof, there’s no reason to take chances, especially with coyotes, raccoons and other hungry critters roaming our rural property.

As you’ve probably guessed, Marge, Myrna and friends are chickens. Our little layers are part of the nation’s “backyard” poultry flock, raised outside commercial poultry farms for eggs, meat or as pets. A reliable census is hard to come by, but one 2024 scientific journal article estimates that there are up to 85 million backyard chickens in the United States.

Recent news about a Louisiana small-flock owner who became severely ill after contracting “bird flu” got me thinking more critically about the twice-daily trek to the coop. While the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that the risk to the public from highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) viruses remains “low,” it’s smart for us poultry owners to consider strengthening our coop health and safety precautions as avian flu outbreaks continue to be reported in chickens and dairy herds.

H5 bird flu is also widespread in wild birds worldwide, the CDC reports. That should give extra incentive to Minnesota flock owners. Our lakes, rivers and wetlands provide ample habitat for waterfowl.

The hospitalization of the Louisiana flock owner was announced publicly on Dec. 18. “While an investigation into the source of the infection in Louisiana is ongoing, it has been determined that the patient had exposure to sick and dead birds in backyard flocks,” a CDC statement said.

The case represents two concerning firsts. It’s the first severe human illness linked to the H5N1 bird flu virus in the United States. In addition, it’s “the first case of H5N1 bird flu in the U.S. that has been linked to exposure to a backyard flock.”

In a conversation this week, Abby Schuft, a poultry educator with the University of Minnesota Extension, drove home that last point. “This is not only a commercial disease,“ she said, referring to large-scale poultry operations that supply eggs and meat to grocery chains and other businesses.

With more-publicized outbreaks occurring on industrial-size farms, backyard owners may have assumed that their flocks’ smaller numbers and more spacious environments provided protection against avian flu. But with the pathogen widespread in waterfowl, chickens being outdoors is a risk factor, Schuft noted.

Free-ranging birds could be exposed to the virus through contact with wild birds or fluids and feces they leave behind, especially if the property has pond or other waterways, she said. Another possible exposure: free-ranging poultry pecking at the carcasses of infected waterfowl a hunter may have shot and disposed of on the property.

Flock owners themselves could also expose their flocks if they’re around infected birds; for example, by visiting another flock or attending a poultry show or a “swap.” Another exposure route: if someone steps in feces from an infected wild bird and transports that substance into the coop on their boots or other gear. As the Louisiana case shows, there are human risks too that come from exposure to infected birds, with heightened safeguards providing important family health protections.

Fortunately, the Minnesota Board of Animal Health and the U of M Extension are terrific resources for new and experienced poultry owners who want to take action.

The Board of Animal Health provides a dashboard summarizing the latest national avian flu outbreak information. In the last 30 days, avian flu has been confirmed nationally in 111 flocks, with 64 of them commercial and 47 in backyard settings, with 17.5 million birds affected.

The board operates a hotline to report sick or dead poultry as well as wild birds. That number is 833-454-0156, and there’s an online reporting form for those who prefer that method.

The board also has an interactive tool that allows small-flock owners in Minnesota to geolocate their properties to see if they’re in a zone near a confirmed commercial outbreak. The tool currently lists three such zones, two in west-central Minnesota and another in the state’s far southeast corner. The board recommends “strict biosecurity” for backyard flocks in these areas.

The Extension commendably provides abundant bird flu information, including basics such as symptoms in chickens: respiratory distress and extreme diarrhea, followed by rapid death. There may also be swelling around the head, neck and eyes, and purple discoloration in the heads and legs.

An excellent 13-minute video narrated by Schuft also provides a how-to guide for small-flock owners who want to heighten biosecurity measures guarding against bird flu spread. That video can be viewed at tinyurl.com/PoultryBiosecurity.

After watching it and talking with Schuft, I’ll be starting some new safeguards at home. I was already keeping a clean coop and enclosed run, masking up, wearing protective eye gear, using a “barn specific” coat and footgear, and doing a lot of hand-washing.

To that, I’ll add disposable gloves for coop work and a footbath to disinfect my barn boots. It’s a little extra work, but well worth it to protect my egg-laying ladies and help fight this alarming virus’ spread.