Alberta farm taking precautions against Avian influenza

With the confirmed cases of Avian influenza, also known as bird flu, an Alberta farmer says domestic poultry don’t have natural immunity against the virus which is carried and spread by wild birds such as waterfowl and shorebirds. Charlotte Wasylik with Chatsworth Farm says they are doing their best to protect their flocks with proper biosecurity measures.

“So we have ducks, geese, chickens, and turkeys, and of course, our domestic ducks and domestic geese really love to go out to our dugout and love to go for a swim and a paddle and oftentimes there are wild ducks and geese there and so that is definitely one way that they could contract avian influenza and then pass it onto our birds. So right now all of our poultry are inside, they are not allowed to go out which I know is not fun for them, but just coming out of an Alberta winter, they are used to being inside, so it’s just a little bit more of a winter staycation.”

Wasylik says they have also limited the number of people who go in and out of their coops and barns. Currently, there is no vaccine available to protect flocks from getting infected with the virus.