Massachusetts is dealing with an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu. It's been here since 2022. This week, it was confirmed in wild birds on the UMass Amherst campus. The avian influenza virus can cause serious illness and death in domestic poultry.
While it not only kills birds, but it also has been found in mammals, like cows, and has infected people. Illness in humans with bird flu can range from mild to severe. The Centers for Disease Control announced this month that one person in Louisiana died after hospitalization with severe avian influenza A (H5N1) illness.
In Wendell, Massachusetts, Tessa White-Diemand of Diemand Farm says they have more than 2,000 laying hens that they're taking steps to protect.
"We're doing everything that we can," Diemand said, adding, "Of course, we can't avoid everything."
"We're not allowing anyone who doesn't work on the farm just to wander on the farm. And if any vehicles do need to drive on the farm, we are spraying the tires with a bleach solution," Diemand said. "Anyone that comes into our farm store, we have floor mats that again have that same bleach solution that they're wiping their feet in case there's any contaminated droppings that may be on the bottom of the shoe."
The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources advises commercial and backyard poultry owners take proactive and strong biosecurity measures, like Diemand Farm has, to prevent domestic poultry from having contact with wild birds, their feathers, and droppings.
"We're asking them to make sure that they're not co-mingling their flock with wild animals, wild birds, waterfowl," said MDAR spokesperson Mai Phu.
The Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) virus continues to circulate in the wild bird population. Officials have prioritized eliminating shared standing water and preventing domestic birds from having access to ponds, streams, and wetland areas that attract wild waterfowl, noting it as a critically important measure to avoiding flock depopulation.
Phu said that means at this time, chickens should not be freely roaming in people's yards or using water sources that other animals have access to.
The consequences can be deadly for domestic poultry. MDAR says flock keepers will see lethargy among their birds who contract the virus. If that happens, they will need to contact the state. In the last few years, only a handful of small flocks of birds have been depopulated due to bird flu infection in Massachusetts.
State officials consulted with the Diemand farm family and made some recommendations for biosecurity upgrades to protect their flock from contracting the respiratory virus, White-Diemand said.
"We have been in discussion with the powers that be. [They gave] us some direction," White-Diemand added," [the state has] been helpful, telling us, you know, how concerned we should be. So, you know, after we've spoken to them, we definitely have tightened up shop here."
Diemand Farm chickens produce close to two thousand eggs a day that consumers can find boxed in cartons of a dozen on the shelves of retail markets throughout western Massachusetts.
Massachusetts agriculture officials say owners of backyard chickens — no matter how many they own — should be taking precautions to protect their flocks.
On the human illness front, the Centers for Disease Control is working closely with state and local partners to conduct active surveillance for bird flu cases, and monitoring the virus as it becomes better adapted to mammals.
