With avian flu wiping out chicken populations and driving up egg prices, people have been struggling for solutions. US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr has suggested that instead of culling birds that are affected, farmers should consider letting the disease run through the flock to identify and preserve birds that are immune to it.
Louisiana Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain emphasizes the terrible impact that would have on the industry thusly: “There might be two chickens left when it’s over.”
Strain illustrated how dangerous and contagious the bird flu can be. “When it goes through the flock, it will destroy an entire flock of chickens in less than two days. It also generates so much virus that if a poultry farm is infected and fans aren’t shut off in that facility, those birds could infect another poultry farm within eight to ten miles away,” Strain adds.
He goes on to say that rebuilding the chicken populations after flocks are destroyed, even if herd immunity is achieved, would take a tremendous amount of time moving forward.
Ultimately, Strain emphasizes that vaccinating chicken populations is the safest bet. “At the end of the day, I’m an advocate for vaccinating our birds. We already vaccinate our chickens and cattle for many other different diseases. We need to increase vaccination to stop this,” he goes on to say.
Strain adds that the disease is already prevalent among wildlife and will not simply vanish.
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