Bird flu cases are emerging in more and more parts of the Netherlands. The harmful variant of the virus affects wild waterfowl, but – despite the obligation to house that started at the end of October – has also surfaced at several commercial poultry farmers. Almost 300,000 chickens, spread over three farms, have already been culled. Yesterday, the bird flu virus was found at a fourth company, a duck farm in the Gelderland village of Terwolde. All 20,000 ducks on the farm have been culled.
Although commercially kept poultry has not been allowed outside for a number of weeks, the bird flu virus apparently sometimes manages to hit the farms. This is cause for great concern for Hennie de Haan, chairman of the Dutch Poultry Farmers’ Union. “In 2.5 weeks, four farms were infected, spread across the Netherlands. There is no way to raise the level, we live between hope and fear.”
Disinfection syringe
The Frisian chicken farmer Pieter Siebesma is also concerned. The organic poultry farmer, who has 12,000 laying hens, is an expert by experience, he explains NOS Radio 1 News. Bird flu was already diagnosed at his company in 2013. Although a less harmful variant, all his chickens had to be culled.
“If bird flu strikes, there is some sort of roadmap,” says Siebesma. “At first that was a book full of rules with everything you should and should not do, but now it has become automatic for us.”
For example, everyone who wants to enter the chicken shed has to change shoes and change clothes. And wagons that drive into the yard have their wheels disinfected. “We put the disinfection syringe by the road, people are no longer allowed in the yard and the chickens go inside.”
Bird Poep
What Siebesma cannot stop is the spread of the bird flu virus via wild (water) birds. And just among those birds, such as barnacle geese and wigeons, the number of infections is increasing.
Many swans, geese and ducks from the north spend the winter in the Netherlands. They live together in large groups here and the bird flu can spread quickly. In addition to water birds, nature organizations have also found dead curlews and peregrine falcons.
–
