Using Bird Flu as Excuse to Cancel your Backyard Chickens

Among all the stupidity reasoning.

In Canada, in the province of Ontario.

City of Toronto is now reversing its 2018 course/decision on backyard hens/Chickens.


In the City of Toronto a few years back, Toronto decided to test out a plot project in a few selected communities.
For a while it was going good for those communities.

Until recently now the city of Toronto had begin reverse course on backyard hens.

The excuse of the city is Bird Flu.

City likely to reverse course on backyard hens

a reply to: vNex92

It actually makes sense to not allow it within city limits.

Most cities have such bylaws.

They'll have to learn how to guerilla coop....

a reply to: vNex92

I'm not surprised at all.

Also side note.....
Anyone else notice something different about this thread???

a reply to: Allaroundyou

Anyone else notice something different about this thread???

Well, now that you mention it; I was actually able to figure out what was written. (I have a terrible time with accents.)

I have two hens; they're 15 and 11. They're not going anywhere.

a reply to: vNex92

Good, they're being careful. A few parks near where I live have a lot of geese and ducks and what not. They were so heavily infected all this last year, we were all warned not to take our dogs to the park. And other pets.

I feel for the birds too. They looked lethargic, not moving much until they died.

I recently heard in an unrelated story that bird flu has even appeared in bears and other wildlife. Of course, it is difficult to know exactly what we can actually 'do' about it in hens...

In understand the rationale for the scrutiny, but is it an 'untestable' kind of thing? Does that fact that bird flu exists mean no one can have chickens anymore? Must they all be 'put down' or something? Not being sarcastic here... it just seems that how it works out according to the news reporting.

Is there a way to keep your chickens safe from this?

originally posted by: Maxmars
I recently heard in an unrelated story that bird flu has even appeared in bears and other wildlife. Of course, it is difficult to know exactly what we can actually 'do' about it in hens...

In understand the rationale for the scrutiny, but is it an 'untestable' kind of thing? Does that fact that bird flu exists mean no one can have chickens anymore? Must they all be 'put down' or something? Not being sarcastic here... it just seems that how it works out according to the news reporting.

Is there a way to keep your chickens safe from this?

Absolutely there is a way to keep your chickens from the bird flu.

Simply by keeping them isolated from other "carriers" solves that problem, though that doesn't solve the problem of the authorities ordering your flock destroyed because they found a case of bird flu a mile down the road. That's the bigger issue, that, and the media hyping it to make it sound like it's prevalent. It isn't, at least I've never even seen ONE case, and I've raised chickens for 20 years a long with all my neighbours here in "farm country". Haven't even HEARD of a case in all these years.

We as humans have raised chickens for thousands of years, there are simple rules that are followed to keep your flock healthy. The main issue isn't the hobby farmers (like myself), who can micro-manage their flock, but the huge corporations that are raising chickens in a 1'x1' cage. That's just asking for it. The same way it would be with any animal kept in such a state.

Weird how the netherlands I think it was did a test with giving out 6000 chickens I believe (Im old memory is dodgy sue me), and they discovered it put a huge dent in biological waste at the dump.

originally posted by: MykeNukem
a reply to: vNex92

It actually makes sense to not allow it within city limits.

Most cities have such bylaws.

They'll have to learn how to guerilla coop....

Most people just glazed over your advice, yes guerilla coop... the only way for success.

I don't know what they are so riled up about. If the chicken gets the virus and lives, it has immunity, if not it dies. Now if you have six chickens in your yard and they die from the bird flu, they are gone, they cannot infect other birds anymore. They do not become carriers, they either get immunity or die off.

The bird flu is present in wild birds, they too either get immunity or die. Their immune systems are stronger than commercial chickens so they can live and spread it WHILE THEY ARE INFECTED. Like us and the flu, when you are showing symptoms, you can pass it on. Are they going to start killing everyone if you get the flu or covid 19? I suppose they will have gas chambers for us when we catch a virus.

Those backyard hens are usually far away from other people's chickens, around here, most people don't have chickens in the town and if they do, usually they are not close to other neighbors who also have chickens. Those next door usually get eggs from their neighbors, why would they need to have their own chickens?

The people running things are getting looney. Yes, I can see a problem with huge chicken farms having to cull chickens that are sick so they do not infect the rest of the chickens on the farm....that is sensible so they do not loose everything. But not a person who has up to a dozen chickens, they can go get new chicks from Tractor supply if they die or just quit raising them for a while.

originally posted by: rickymouse
I don't know what they are so riled up about. If the chicken gets the virus and lives, it has immunity, if not it dies. Now if you have six chickens in your yard and they die from the bird flu, they are gone, they cannot infect other birds anymore. They do not become carriers, they either get immunity or die off.

The bird flu is present in wild birds, they too either get immunity or die. Their immune systems are stronger than commercial chickens so they can live and spread it WHILE THEY ARE INFECTED. Like us and the flu, when you are showing symptoms, you can pass it on. Are they going to start killing everyone if you get the flu or covid 19? I suppose they will have gas chambers for us when we catch a virus.

Those backyard hens are usually far away from other people's chickens, around here, most people don't have chickens in the town and if they do, usually they are not close to other neighbors who also have chickens. Those next door usually get eggs from their neighbors, why would they need to have their own chickens?

The people running things are getting looney. Yes, I can see a problem with huge chicken farms having to cull chickens that are sick so they do not infect the rest of the chickens on the farm....that is sensible so they do not loose everything. But not a person who has up to a dozen chickens, they can go get new chicks from Tractor supply if they die or just quit raising them for a while.

But they are carriers and it just does not work out.

originally posted by: quintessentone

originally posted by: MykeNukem
a reply to: vNex92

It actually makes sense to not allow it within city limits.

Most cities have such bylaws.

They'll have to learn how to guerilla coop....

Most people just glazed over your advice, yes guerilla coop... the only way for success.

Raise and breed your own is best.

Then, don't let anything near them.

Whether you're technically guerilla cooping or not, it's a good practice (safest).

But I agree, everyone who raises chickens, especially if they want to do it in an urban area that may or may not have bylaws against it, should read a book on guerilla cooping IMO.

originally posted by: MykeNukem

originally posted by: quintessentone

originally posted by: MykeNukem
a reply to: vNex92

It actually makes sense to not allow it within city limits.

Most cities have such bylaws.

They'll have to learn how to guerilla coop....

Most people just glazed over your advice, yes guerilla coop... the only way for success.

Raise and breed your own is best.

Then, don't let anything near them.

Whether you're technically guerilla cooping or not, it's a good practice (safest).

But I agree, everyone who raises chickens, especially if they want to do it in an urban area that may or may not have bylaws against it, should read a book on guerilla cooping IMO.

And here we are again, implementing isolation for safety,

originally posted by: quintessentone

originally posted by: rickymouse
I don't know what they are so riled up about. If the chicken gets the virus and lives, it has immunity, if not it dies. Now if you have six chickens in your yard and they die from the bird flu, they are gone, they cannot infect other birds anymore. They do not become carriers, they either get immunity or die off.

The bird flu is present in wild birds, they too either get immunity or die. Their immune systems are stronger than commercial chickens so they can live and spread it WHILE THEY ARE INFECTED. Like us and the flu, when you are showing symptoms, you can pass it on. Are they going to start killing everyone if you get the flu or covid 19? I suppose they will have gas chambers for us when we catch a virus.

Those backyard hens are usually far away from other people's chickens, around here, most people don't have chickens in the town and if they do, usually they are not close to other neighbors who also have chickens. Those next door usually get eggs from their neighbors, why would they need to have their own chickens?

The people running things are getting looney. Yes, I can see a problem with huge chicken farms having to cull chickens that are sick so they do not infect the rest of the chickens on the farm....that is sensible so they do not loose everything. But not a person who has up to a dozen chickens, they can go get new chicks from Tractor supply if they die or just quit raising them for a while.

But they are carriers and it just does not work out.

Wild birds can carry the virus while they fight it with little symptoms, but they are not carriers that can transmit it for a long time. A lot of wild birds already have had the virus and have immunity, and after they get immunity they cannot spread it anymore because they are not sick.

A carrier used to be someone or something that lived symbiotically with a disease and could spread it...that is a carrier and that is still happening. Some diseases can be carried by people and even though they are not sick, they can infect others...that happened during the Haiti disaster, some of the Spanish people helping were carriers of diseases and infected the locals. That is how a lot of the Native Americans died when the Spanish came here and "discovered America" they were carriers of a disease. C-diff is another disease that can be symbiotic, and some people carry MERSA without even getting sick but can spread the disease....some work in hospitals and that is why infections in hospitals is a problem.

The bird flu is not this type of disease from what I read, it will stimulate immunity or the animal will die. If the immune system overreacts the bird will die too.

But that does not mean it couldn't be a disaster for a big egg farmer, and because we have such big egg complexes producing a majority of our eggs, it could be bad for our people if the eggs disappeared. If a back yard coop is near a big egg farm, I could see them killing the chickens to stop the threat to the huge flocks of birds in the egg farm. But otherwise I do not see it as a problem, lots of wild birds spread it, carrying it to other birds till they gain immunity and cannot spread it anymore.

I read a lot about this a year or so ago and that is how I interpretted the evidence. That did not stop people from misinterpretting the evidence and pushing to destroy all the chickens out there though.

a reply to: quintessentone

True. But you also need to remove their vocal chords. I found a video once on the surgery you can do on your own to your chickens. Let me try and find it...

a reply to: nugget1

We have one hen left. She's battery rescued. She is about 15, too.

Lots of geese and swans died horribly from this flu.

Seabirds like puffins decimated too.

a reply to: EmmanuelGoldstein

Please, don't!

Hens aren't that noisy, especially if you only have up to 6 or so. Roosters on the other hand are. If you gorilla coop 6 hens, you could potentially pull in on average 4 eggs a day, overall.

I wouldn't get my hen's vocal cords 'quieted'. If it was necessary to go completely steller, I would keep them in my basement. If it got to the point where I wanted a rooster and HAD to keep it quiet, I would consider eliminating his vocal cords. But it would have to be very extreme conditions to consider doing that.

In an earlier thread, I posted a rough drawing of my 'GC' - guerilla coop, which I will be implementing very soon. We just had more snow this weekend and tonight it will be 21F so between the cold, the snow and massive amount of mud everywhere, it's still too early to begin working on the GC. But I can't wait to get started. I will share pics of the project along the way and upon completion. I have 27 new chicks coming in on Monday or Tuesday and will keep them in my back living room until they are big enough to go out to the barn. I will be sharing with some local friends and have some in the new coop when finished. I will continue to keep my older hens in my barn which I can still get eggs from but I will process them this fall. My goal is to keep 15 hens plus two roos. We'll see how that goes.

a reply to: vNex92 for the OP and everyone, animal testing for COVID-19 is now available:

www.cidrap.umn.edu...

So you can arrange COVID-19 testing for any animals being raised on your property. For current global problems with avian influenza, what is being recommended is complete isolation of those animals, so that all air reaching those animals is filtered, humans caring for them wear masks, booties, etc.

The Economist and other financial reporting sources state that as of 2023, it's more expensive to raise backyard flocks than to buy the eggs. They report, for example, the cost of bird feed has gone way up. It might, however, be possible to approximate bird feed with organic seeds from your local natural foods store, because millet seed is still available at low prices, as are sunflower seeds. Pumpkin seeds are a little more pricey.

SoCal grocery prices for organic eggs finally started dropping ... it's around $6.50 US to buy a dozen organic large brown eggs now, and that price is expected to drop much more by the end of this year.

Canada and Australia are test beds for these bogus policies. If there was bird flu it would come from the US patented bird flu virus, but it can also be used as a manufactured fear.