Risk to humans is low, but epidemiologists fear a future pandemic by such a flu:
The ongoing bird flu outbreak in the US is now the longest and deadliest on record. More than 57 million birds have been killed by the virus or culled since a year ago, and the deadly disruption has helped propel skyrocketing egg prices and a spike in egg smuggling.
Since highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) was first detected in US birds in January 2022, the price of a carton of a dozen eggs has shot up from an average of about $1.79 in December 2021 to $4.25 in December 2022, a 137 percent increase, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Although inflation and supply chain issues partly explain the rise, eggs saw the largest percentage increase of any specific food, according to the consumer price index.
[...] Still, America's pain in grocery store dairy aisles likely pales compared to some of the devastation on poultry farms. HPAI A(H5N1) has been detected in wild birds in all 50 states, and 47 have reported outbreaks on poultry farms. So far, there have been 731 outbreaks across 371 counties. At the end of last month, two outbreaks in Weakley County, Tennessee, affected 62,600 chickens.
[...] In the current outbreak, the CDC has tracked more than 5,000 people who have had contact with infected birds but only found a single case of bird flu in a human. The reported case in Colorado came from a person who worked directly with infected birds and was involved with a cull. The person had mild symptoms and recovered.
Although the current data is comforting, virologists and epidemiologists still fear the potential for flu viruses, such as bird flu, to mutate and recombine into a human-infecting virus with pandemic potential. [...]
[...] As such, the authors say it is necessary to "strengthen the culture of biosafety and biosecurity in this farming system and promote the implementation of ad hoc surveillance programs for influenza A viruses and other zoonotic pathogens at a global level."
(Score: 1, Funny) by Username on Monday January 30 2023, @06:45AM (1 child)
Better lock them down in their houses to stop the spread, oh wait...
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday January 30 2023, @07:22PM
A new avian flue crossing species is unlikely.
But it only has to happen once in millions of opportunities.
Just like a chemical concoction complex enough to reproduce only has to happen once.
The surface of the moon is covered with the results of incredibly tiny astronomically small odds.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 4, Funny) by driverless on Monday January 30 2023, @08:04AM (5 children)
That's still a step down from Australia, they smuggle whole budgies there.
(Score: 2) by Username on Monday January 30 2023, @09:38AM (3 children)
Define: Budgies
(Score: 2) by driverless on Monday January 30 2023, @09:54AM (2 children)
Google "budgie smuggling".
(Score: 4, Funny) by Phoenix666 on Monday January 30 2023, @03:32PM (1 child)
Somewhere a faint echo can be heard: "It's a trap!"
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Touché) by mcgrew on Monday January 30 2023, @06:47PM
Budgie: a '70s rock band from Britain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budgie_(band) [wikipedia.org]
Budgie smuggling: The Pirate Bay
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Immerman on Monday January 30 2023, @08:05PM
At least we're not (yet?) having to deal with counterfeit eggs [myrecipes.com]
(Score: 4, Interesting) by istartedi on Monday January 30 2023, @08:05AM (8 children)
I hadn't thought of until I saw a post on reddit, but this is going to have a serious knock-on effect insofar as a lot of people are going to try raising chickens to get "cheap" eggs, and if you have ever really thought it through you know that boy-oh-boy are they in for a rude awakening. There are already some anecdotes of places like Tractor Supply selling out of chicks fast. People don't understand the poor economics of raising chickens at small scale, the time, start-up costs, emotional impact of culling roosters, etc.
The silver lining for those who are already chicken savvy is that in the next few months they're going to get free hens for their existing coops, and roosters for their stew pots.
Seriously. Do not try to solve this problem by getting a few chickens. You will almost certainly be sorry.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 30 2023, @09:46AM
My mom has been growing banana trees. Definitely won't get cheap bananas that way. Commercially available bananas are already cheap.
But I guess it's her hobby or something. Cheaper than many other hobbies.
So similar for the eggs stuff. Makes sense if it's a hobby or you want more control over the way the chickens are raised and eggs produced or you want a bit more food independence.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday January 30 2023, @10:36AM
Agree 100%, however... There are all kinds of reasons (other than cheap eggs) to raise your own laying hens.
In the big picture: diversity in the egg production sector is good, and more diversity would make more stable market prices and availability in the face of problems like the current bird flu.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Monday January 30 2023, @11:44AM (1 child)
> You will be sorry
Large numbers of amateurs probably not great for control of bird flu either...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Monday January 30 2023, @12:05PM
>Large numbers of amateurs probably not great for control of bird flu either...
Yes, and no. To our east, all four neighbors have laying hens as a "thing for the kids". None are taking it too seriously. Two sets are caged in medium sized enclosures, one was running "free range" but went to an enclosure to keep the hawks out after they lost a hen in dramatic fashion. The other free rangers are still trying their luck with the predators.
Anyway, maybe bird flu will hit them all and wipe them out, but it would take a strain about 10000x more easily transmittable than what it takes to wipe out an entire commercial laying operation.
The amateur monitoring and mitigation practices are severely lacking, but their basic layout with so much space between the birds in the first place is a huge advantage over an industrial scale laying house. From our cluster of four pens it's over a mile to the next hen.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 30 2023, @02:45PM
Even at currently higher prices, I think that eggs are still a fairly cheap source of protein.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Monday January 30 2023, @03:47PM (1 child)
I dunno. You're stating it so strongly that it rather seems to be falling for the Expert Fallacy, ie. that regular people shouldn't do anything for themselves because they're too stupid and boy will they be sorry if they don't stay in their lane. Me, I think more people knowing more, doing more, and knowing how to do more is an unalloyed good that proponents of the Division of Labor lose sight of. I think it's good for everyone to know how to code, at least a little, because at the very least it de-mystifies the machines that have come to control so much of their lives. It's good for everyone to know how a car engine works so that when something breaks they don't panic and don't let themselves be railroaded by dishonest mechanics. It's good for everyone to have a working grasp of the Western canon so that they don't get taken in by miscreants peddling objectivism or re-packaged Marxism.
Everyone who can ought to cultivate a garden and raise food animals. Being able to produce our own food is a birthright that we shouldn't let any system or scold take away. Moreover, if you have land that's not producing food or useful products for you, then in a sense it's like having a great set of tools you never use or an amazing voice you never raise in song: it's a waste.
And one last, off-the-cuff thought is that, sure, you can always buy a cheap knick-knack from China for less money than it can cost you to roll your own. But then, it's never exactly the knick-knack you want, and even if it's close it breaks within a fortnight and you are left with junk you haven't the faintest inkling how to repair.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by istartedi on Tuesday January 31 2023, @12:57AM
I really don't want to come off that way. In fact, I live in a neighborhood where it's OK to have chickens and I know several properties where people have them. They presumably get some value out of it even if it doesn't pencil out on a balance sheet. There are benefits that come from that such as knowing how your food is sourced, personal satisfaction in a job well done, possible inroads to scale up and learn the industry, some people even enjoy them as pets, and others I'm probably not even thinking of.
I'm not trying to discourage people from raising chickens, or doing anything else independently of the system if they are already inclined to do so.
What I'm saying, and *ONLY* what I'm saying, is that they shouldn't jump in with both feet to the deep end without swimming lessons; and I think we can agree on that, right?
Nope. It makes sense for some people, and not for others. I personally grow some of my own veggies. In particular I always grow Roma tomatoes, and when there was no drought I grew corn, pumpkins, and peppers--but I looked in to chickens and decided it wasn't for me. Other people here don't even garden. On the other end of the spectrum they have not only chickens but goats on some larger lots. Totally awesome for some people. Others just wake up and drive someplace to work 9-5. Nothing wrong with that. I really don't want my neighbor getting in to things if they aren't cut out for it. It just causes problems.
In fact, a lot of my neighbors shouldn't even be allowed to own dogs, let alone livestock. Strays are a real problem and to bring this full circle--one of my neighbors complained on NextDoor just a few weeks ago about it: A dog had broken in and killed a couple of her chickens.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Monday January 30 2023, @08:20PM
I don't know - I had a housemate that kept a few laying chickens for a while - likely some hardy local "mutts" rather than any sort of fragile commercial breed. Didn't take much - a cave made from a few straw bales to keep them warm, and tossing out some kitchen scraps to supplement the plants and grasshoppers they normally ate, plus a bit of seed in the off-season. Though I imagine it would be far less cost effective if you fed them seed regularly.
If he had actually been good about collecting the eggs while they were still fresh it likely would have worked fine. At least until he decided to get a rooster so that losses to neighborhood animals could be easily replaced rather than making a coop to keep them safe. That didn't last long before something got him, and I wasn't sad to see him go.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by jelizondo on Monday January 30 2023, @05:13PM (1 child)
There appears to be some gouging going on, at least Farm Action [farmaction.us] claims that producers are using the scare of H1N1 (avian flu) to raise prices [reuters.com] beyond the reasonable.
I think the increase in profits shows clearly that the problem is not supply-chain of avian flu, but greed.
(Score: 3, Informative) by mcgrew on Monday January 30 2023, @06:52PM
Whenever a greedy capitalist (greed is necessary to be a capitalist) sees an opportunity to gouge the consumer, the bastard will do so every time. See: gas prices when Russia invaded Ukraine right when people started driving again.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org