Suche
Mein Konto
Bird flu danger: Delitzsch hobby breeder fears for his chickens!
Oliver and Caroline Kahlo report on the current challenges caused by bird flu and the new stable requirement in northern Saxony.
Bird flu danger: Delitzsch hobby breeder fears for his chickens!
In the last few weeks, bird flu has been making news again and is causing great concern for many poultry farmers, such as the couple Oliver and Caroline Kahlo. The two have been running egg vending machines in Rackwitz and Brodau since 2017 and currently keep 1,150 chickens in three mobile stables. New young chickens arrived last Thursday, but the official order requiring them to be kept in a stable has made it impossible for the animals to run freely for the time being. “The old chickens are having a hard time getting used to the new situation without freedom,” reports Oliver Kahlo, who keeps a close eye on the annoyed animals.
The stable requirement was imposed as a precautionary measure due to the threat of bird flu, which is currently spreading rapidly in Germany and Europe. ZDF today reports that the risk of outbreaks has been raised to “high”, and in Baden-Württemberg, for example, 15,000 animals have already been killed. Hundreds of thousands of poultry have lost their lives across the country, while the number of cranes dying in Germany is reaching enormous proportions. It is estimated that around 2,000 cranes died during migration, with over 1,000 recovered in northern Brandenburg.
Hygiene precautions and concerns
The Kahlos take hygiene precautions very seriously. Each chicken mobile has its own pair of shoes for the coop, and disinfectant is currently few and far between. “We have to refill the protective mats every day,” explains the farmer, who, despite his high safety standards, has concerns about the extensive measures and the possible culling of his animals. “The housing obligation only applies to commercial poultry businesses in the district; hobby poultry farmers are not affected,” he says, wondering how his family business could recover if a cull were to occur.
29 outbreaks in wild birds have already been registered nationwide, with cranes in particular being affected. [LVZ]. The prospect of calming down is uncertain because the current virus subtype H5N1 is highly contagious and is particularly active in the autumn.
Fortunately, the population is currently not in acute danger, as numbers from the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (FLI) confirm. There are currently no cases of H5N1 in humans. However, it is advisable to avoid contact with dead birds to minimize the potential for virus spread. There remains hope that the situation can stabilize, especially since special vaccines for poultry have already been approved in other countries, such as France. This could potentially contain the spread of the disease in the future.