Delaware News Journal
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- The Delmarva poultry industry remains on high alert despite no new cases of avian influenza being detected in commercial flocks for over a month.
- The outbreak has resulted in the culling of 1.5 million chickens on Delmarva to prevent the virus’s spread.
- While the USDA compensates farmers for culled flocks, there is currently no income replacement for growers within control areas who cannot raise new flocks.
- The potential use of an HPAI vaccine in the U.S. raises concerns about its impact on poultry exports.
It’s been over a month since highly pathogenic avian influenza was last detected in commercial poultry on Delmarva, but the industry is still on high alert.
“While it is definitely nice to see the snow geese beginning to migrate away from the area, there are other wild birds migrating north over the next few weeks that poultry owners need to be concerned about,” Delmarva Avian Influenza Joint Information Center spokesperson Stacey Hofmann said. “It definitely is not time to let down our guard, and biosecurity is essential in keeping flocks safe, whether it’s a poultry farm or a backyard flock.”
How many wild birds have been affected is unknown, but dead snow geese and other birds were a common sight on Delmarva beaches and nearby areas like Cape May this winter.
What is known is how badly the outbreak affected the poultry industry. So far this year, 1.5 million Delmarva chickens have been killed to stop the spread of bird flu, according to the Delmarva Avian Influenza Joint Information Center.
There have been nine instances of avian influenza on commercial Delmarva poultry farms this year. All nine control areas have been cleared, Delmarva Chicken Association spokesman James Fisher said. The affected farms are all in different stages of disinfection, with some already hosting new flocks.
The bird flu outbreak
Highly pathogenic avian influenza (also known as bird flu, H5 or HPAI) is a virus that spreads quickly through nasal and eye secretions and manure. It typically affects wild bird species, such as ducks, geese, shorebirds and raptors, but can affect numerous other animals, such as seals, cattle, cats and raccoons. It spreads easily to commercial poultry through infected equipment or the shoes and clothes of caretakers.
The HPAI outbreak began in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. An uptick in cases on Delmarva was noted starting in December when dead snow geese were found at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Milton.
“All indications are that each of the nine cases (on Delmarva chicken farms) came from wild birds,” Fisher says. “What it does to chickens is very different than what it does to wild birds, who can carry it but not succumb and die.”
HPAI is a major threat to the poultry industry, according to the USDA website. Once bird flu is introduced on a chicken farm, if unaddressed, most of the flock will die within a few days, Fisher said. For this reason, when HPAI is detected, the entire flock is killed.Egg prices stress restaurants: Restaurants fight to keep prices down as egg costs soar: ‘We’re dying by a thousand cuts’
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How bird flu is affecting the economy
According to the National Chicken Council website, over 77% of chickens affected by the outbreak nationwide have been egg-producing chickens, while only about 8% have been broilers.
Chicken prices have not gone up the way egg prices have recently. Egg prices have soared 41.1% this year, according to the USDA, and costs could go higher. A 3.4% increase in the prices of all food is also forecast.
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Bird flu affects chicken growers in other ways. When a flock is culled due to bird flu, the USDA pays the grower for the lost flock, according to Fisher.
“That’s important because you don’t want a grower to be disincentivized from speaking up if they see an issue,” Fisher said.
However, when bird flu is detected on a farm, a control area is established, which means nearby growers can’t get new flocks until it’s lifted.
“There are growers who are sitting around and waiting to start making income again and there is no income replacement for them,” Fisher said.
The Delmarva Chicken Association supports the federal Healthy Poultry Assistance and Indemnification Act, proposed by Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., which would expand USDA compensation to all farmers within a bird flu control area.
In addition, about 10% to 15% of chickens grown on Delmarva are exported to other countries. Some parts of the chicken that aren’t popular here are popular in other places, like chicken paws (toes) in Asia, Fisher said.Is it safe to use bird feeders?: What to know about backyard birds and bird flu
“It’s a very important market,” Fisher said.
The poultry export market could be affected by the U.S.’s consideration of an HPAI vaccine. Some countries already use it, but in the U.S., depopulation (killing an entire flock) has historically been the primary HPAI control tool.
However, in February, the USDA approved an HPAI vaccine for limited use. It must receive full approval before it can be used on commercial poultry, according to Science magazine. However, the National Chicken Council and the “Chicken Caucus” (Coons, Wicker and other Congress members) oppose the vaccine.
The vaccine threatens the U.S. export market, a February letter from the caucus to the USDA secretary said.
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