Comments on: I Was ‘The Goose Lady.’ Then Avian Flu Came For My Flock

By: Kim

Kim — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 18:06:52 +0000

Your experience terrifies me. I rescue ducks in New Zealand, and have been saving to buy some land of my own, but when i was very close to getting there, the market for the contract work I do here vanished almost overnight and I a, currently living off my savings and therefore not in a position to put up large enough indoor housing for all of the ducks here. We don’t have HPAI in NZ yet but it has arrived in Australia and there are various news articles about the impact it will have here which range from pondering if it will arrive here to quoting experts saying it is only a matter of (a short amount of ) time before it is here.
my ducks free range and the flock includes wild birds who were raised here and most sty here 24/7 but a few fly off to other rooting areas at night. As it is duckl hunting season here in Nz atm I have also had a few additional wild paradise shelducks show up most days to seek refuge from hunting.
if I had my own land I would prioritise putting up a huge barn or huge aviary which could be covered, to keep the flock secure from other birds and their poop. But as a renter I cannot practically do that even if my landlord allowed it it would cost far too much money to put up on land I wont own where it would be something I couldn’t dismantle and take with me when i leave.
I was wondering if you were able to find out where your initial cases of HPAI may have come from? Ie wild birds, people visiting who had been in contact with other birds, birds you purchased or adopted etc?
And any other advice you would give someone like me if you were me?

By: Anne Connor

Anne Connor — Fri, 24 Feb 2023 11:42:13 +0000

I’m sorry for your loss! It could happen to any of us.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 05:28:09 +0000

So sad and hard.
We need to start discussing what factors put the “highly pathogenic” into the regular avian influenza? We are concentrating on those migrating and spreading the virus when ‘concentrated animal feeding operations’ are creating these superbugs and misery. The human created Petri dishes that are costing wildlife, ecosystem, and animals etc etc their lives and quality of life.

By: G Suspicious

G Suspicious — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 18:09:03 +0000

In reply to Sher. No accident here. The shutting down of "backyard farmers" must be resisted

By: Sharon

Sharon — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 13:06:58 +0000

Sorry for your losses. I had ducks and pigeons many years ago. Most were rescues, but many I raised from hatchlings. A good friend of mine has made every effort to provide attractive, safe and comfortable accomodations for her numerous variety of farmyard poultry, but this year has been disastrous.Over night she lost 12 and the second and third days the rest of her small flock. The only ones who survived were the babies in the incubators or too small to be outside. One good sign: my local market told me last week the had lowered their price for eggs by a dollar. We all are hurting from “natual” disasters.

By: Kirsten Lie-Nielsen

Kirsten Lie-Nielsen — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 12:13:43 +0000

In reply to Lucy Park Newton. They have been working on a vaccine that could be administered to chicks like other poultry vaccines. In fact in the EU and Mexico they have done some vaccinating of birds. Apparently there's resistance to vaccines as a solution by big poultry because it makes exporting more difficult, which is why it wasn't developed sooner.

By: Woozie

Woozie — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 00:34:39 +0000

Kirsten, I am actually squelching sobs at reading your article. It wasn’t HPAI that took my birds, it was “neighbors” stealing and selling at the livestock auction. Yes, eventually, I was able to prove it, but that went nowhere. (Just boys being boys) Only a few of each, but my ringnecks, golden and red pheasants, by beautiful “Betty White” Beltsville with her blue eyes and her insistance on sitting in my lap – – Oh, Sanity, I don’t need to tell you. I am happy you were compensated, monitarily, for the little bit that is worth. Me? As soon as I get my cataract surgery, I will get a gun – – hey, it’s the American way, right? Well, no, actually I will probably booby trap the door so that the hoodlums walk in, trigger the trap. and end up entangled in a curtain of fly paper…!

By: Leslie

Leslie — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 19:45:19 +0000

I’m so sorry that you had to go through this.

By: Sher

Sher — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 18:28:44 +0000

My heart breaks for you. We too live on a farm in northern Idaho, and have had a wasting disease in the deer. The deaths of wildlife including the wonderful geese, and how this affects domestic birds is a horror. Feels like a set-up, and along with the trauma and sadness, we distrust everything being spread over the world.

By: Jennifer F

Jennifer F — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 17:53:05 +0000

I’m so sorry for you! Its always a balance between living a good life and the risks we encounter by giving just a little freedom.