Avian flu avoiding Floyd, so far
Area poultry producers are taking steps to minimize the risk.
At least one Floyd County chicken producer is taking the news of a confirmed outbreak of avian flu in Chattooga in stride.
“It’s a typical agriculture thing. If it’s not drought, it’s something else,” said Michael Williams, Floyd Springs, one of Floyd County’s largest broiler chicken producers.
Some 18,000 birds were destroyed at a chicken house in Chattooga County after the avian flu was confirmed last weekend. It’s the first time the disease has been confirmed in a commercial flock in Georgia.
A routine check of all other commercial chicken houses within a six-mile radius did not turn up any other cases.
Williams, along with his two brothers and father, operates multiple broiler houses off Floyd Springs Road in the northern neck of Floyd County. He said the Chattooga farm in question is about 26 miles away. He said many of his chicken houses are newer and larger with as many as 52,000 birds in a house at any given time.
“Truthfully, I don’t know what the total protocol is and I hope I don’t ever have to find out,” Williams said.
What he does know is that he would have to kill his entire flock, not just one house, in the case of an outbreak. “The financial impact could be pretty devastating,” Williams said. “People that are just starting out could have real financial problems as far as paying their notes.”
The Avian flu is spread by migrating birds, particularly waterfowl, such as geese. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports the virus can travel on manure, egg flats, crates, other farming materials/equipment, and people who have picked up the virus on their clothing, shoes, or hands.
Williams said anyone could step into bird poop and carry it into the house on the sole of their shoe.
USDA groups the avian flu into two categories, a highly pathogenic and low pathogenic strain — based on the ability of the virus to produce disease and the severity of illness it can cause. The
high-path strain is capable of spreading rapidly and has a high death rate in birds. The low-path strain, thought to be what infected the Chattooga flock, causes only minor illness however there is concern is that some lowpath strains are capable of mutating into highpath.
Williams said that during the migratory season, which is occurring now, biosecurity programs are critical to the
chicken farmers. “We keep foot baths outside of each door,” Williams said. It has a bleach power solution the farmers step into when they go into the house and step back in it again when they come back out.
“And we stay away from anybody that’s got backyard chickens; that’s always been a no-no,” Williams said. Georgia Department of Agriculture examiners have also made plans to check
backyard breeders within two miles of the impacted farm.
USDA officials report that cases of the avian flu have shown up in Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky this spring.
The latest data available from the University of Georgia indicates that broiler chicken production was a $6.4 million industry in Floyd County in 2014 and a $1.6 million industry in Chattooga County.