Hannah Pearce recently decided to get rid of about 30 chickens she raises for eggs. The younger birds she plans to sell, and the older birds she鈥檒l give away.
Pearce runs Hillside Farm in Albany with her dad, Bill. The farm is surrounded by woods. It borders a beaver pond, where wild ducks and geese often visit. Most of their business is raising chickens and turkeys on pasture for meat. They鈥檝e always had egg-laying chickens, too 鈥� but not this year.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e not enclosed so there鈥檚 more chances for wild birds to be interacting with them or their food,鈥� Pearce said. 鈥淚t seems like an unnecessary risk.鈥�
It鈥檚 a risk because those wild birds could be carrying bird flu, which they could pass onto her animals.
鈥淭heoretically, if any birds got sick on our farm, we would need to kill all the birds on our farm, which in the middle of the season is over 2000 birds,鈥� she said.
For many farmers, the risk of bird flu is especially concerning right now 鈥� the virus has killed millions of birds, infected and in the past year. In Vermont, two backyard flocks tested positive earlier this winter, likely from exposure to wild birds. And some fear the virus .
鈥淚t's definitely much more serious this year than in the past,鈥� said Bill Pearce, who started the business 15 years ago. 鈥淥ur suppliers, everybody's extremely nervous about it.鈥�
While the virus has been far less deadly in cows than in most birds, there鈥檚 a concern it鈥檚 spreading undetected in cattle and people.
In part, that's because of a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which tested 150 veterinarians in the U.S. and Canada who had interacted with presumably healthy cattle in September. It found meaning they had been infected without ever getting sick.
So far, bird flu hasn鈥檛 been detected in any cows , .
Certainly, if I was living in a state that had multiple herds that have been infected, that to me would be very concerning and warrant a different approach.Dr. Mark Levine, Department of Health
And the state is actively looking for this virus. Earlier this year, Vermont started testing milk from every Grade A dairy farm in the state that鈥檚 sent for pasteurization. State agencies have also been testing viral samples of sick cattle and anyone who鈥檚 hospitalized with the flu.
No signs of bird flu have shown up there, either.
Because of that, Dr. Mark Levine, the head of the Vermont Department of Health, says it doesn鈥檛 make sense to do surveillance testing of farmworkers or vets right now.
鈥淐ertainly, if I was living in a state that had multiple herds that have been infected, that to me would be very concerning and warrant a different approach,鈥� he said.
Until bird flu is detected on a dairy farm in Vermont, the biggest risk the virus poses is probably to commercial birds.
鈥淭hat is something that I'm very worried about,鈥� said Dr. Kaitlynn Levine, a veterinarian with the Agency of Agriculture.
鈥淲e tend to raise a lot of our birds outside, and the number one way that birds get this is by interacting with wild birds, especially wild waterfowl,鈥� she said.
Keith Drinkwine of Flatlander Farm in South Starksboro says raising his birds on pasture feels like a gamble.
鈥淲e're hedging our bets for sure, but it鈥檚 definitely a roll of the dice,鈥� he said.
He typically raises a few hundred chickens and geese for meat, but this year he鈥檚 scaling back his meat bird operation and raising more egg-laying chickens. Partly as a market response 鈥� the price of eggs is high. And because his birds are slaughtered and butchered on an outside farm.
鈥淎ll of the uncertainty and the risk factor of transporting birds to another poultry farm for us and for them, just doesn't 鈥� it seems unnecessary this year,鈥� he said.
At Hillside Farm in Albany, Hannah Pearce is still planning to raise plenty of meat birds 鈥� about 4,300 chickens and 300 turkeys, which they鈥檒l process on the farm.
But they鈥檙e asking people who have backyard chickens or other birds not to visit. They鈥檙e adding more boot cleaning protocols for whenever anyone enters buildings with the youngest chicks.
And soon, Pearce will walk her dogs over to the beaver pond every day to chase away the geese. But ultimately, there鈥檚 only so much she can do to reduce risk of bird flu on the farm.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 choose to confine our birds to a barn and have it locked down, that鈥檚 not an option,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e're moving them onto fresh grass every single day."
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