Keeping Bad Bugs at Bay - What Keeping Chickens Can Teach About Staying Safe From COVID-19

Back in a previous life, before I was a chicken blogger, I was a public health microbiologist.  Back then I spent a lot of time thinking about infections and infectious diseases.  When I hung up my lab coat and started hanging out with chickens, it occurred to me that many of the recommended public health practices for keeping people safe from infectious diseases were the same common sense guidelines that were recommended for keeping our flocks safe from the spread of disease.  And now that the spreading COVID-19 pandemic is constantly on our minds, I’ve started thinking about it in reverse. Many of the recommended practices for keeping our flocks safe can, with a few modifications, be good guidelines for protecting ourselves from this marauding coronavirus. 

How Viruses Spread

For viruses to thrive and reproduce, they need a host.  If they can’t find their way into a living cell, they are toast—some viruses last longer than others outside of a host cell, but eventually they’ll all succumb.  So, since viruses eventually kill their host cells, the smart and successful virus knows it needs to find its way from its old dying host cell into a new host cell as quickly and expeditiously as possible.  Some viruses need direct bodily contact between hosts, but others can travel through the air, or survive for a period of time on the surfaces of objects. Their great hope as they float through the air or bide their time on objects is, of course, that they’ll come in contact with a host.  And once that happens, they have to get inside the host.  Mouths and noses are immensely popular destination spots among in-the-know, discerning viruses.  Obviously, the larger the group of potential hosts, the more mouths and noses there are to come in contact with.  That’s why viruses love large congregations of hosts—think big flocks or big crowds.   

Protecting Your Flock

There are all sorts of viral diseases of poultry out there that, if they find their way to your flock, can quickly kill every single bird.  In March of 2015, an avian influenza epidemic started in Minnesota and by the end of May had resulted in the deaths of 43 million birds in 15 states.  In January 2019, I reported on a virulent Newcastle Disease outbreak in California that had been persisting there since May 2018, mostly in backyard flocks.  It is still happening.  So far, over 1.2 million birds have died or been euthanized because of this viral outbreak. 

In a letter to California poultry producers about the continuing virulent Newcastle Disease outbreak sent on February 28, California State Veterinarian, Dr. Annette Jones, said “the risk of diseases entering your flock is always present but can be mitigated. Enhanced biosecurity is critical…”  What exactly is biosecurity, and how does it help to protect your flock?  The APHIS division of the US Department of Agriculture has an excellent web page they call the “Defend the Flock Resource Center” that is designed to educate small flock owners about flock biosecurity—how to keep their flocks free of invading diseases.  One of the features is a series of YouTube videos featuring a corny blue cartoon rooster called “Healthy Harry.”  Harry walks viewers through biosecurity measures to keep flocks disease-free.  For instance, in one video he talks about recognizing sick chickens by looking for signs like coughing, sneezing, swollen eyes, and gasping for air.  Sick birds, he tells us, need to be quarantined.  Because there can always be disease lurking, even in healthy-appearing chickens, Harry recommends keeping new birds separated from the flock for 30 days.  And if a chicken has been mingling in a group of strange chickens—for instance, at a poultry show—that bird should be isolated from the rest of the flock for 14 days. 

Elsewhere on this site, there’s a flyer called “Biosecurity Tips:  Six Ways to Prevent Poultry Disease.”  The flyer talks about making sure that visitors scrupulously clean themselves and change clothes and/or use shoe covers before visiting a flock if they’ve been in contact with other birds and not to use tools or other equipment that’s been in contact with other flocks. 

Here my distillation of the basic message: Break the viral transmission cycle through sequestration.  Make sure that viruses don’t ride into town on an object by keeping all objects that have been in contact with other birds away from your flock.  And when that “object” is a person, make sure that person and their clothes are clean and free of viruses.  And most importantly, make sure that when the virus goes searching for new mouths and noses (well….beaks) there are none to find—because the sick bird or the infected new chicken has been kept separate from other uninfected chickens.  

Protecting Yourself

The first reported case of COVID-19 was on November 17 of last year—a 55-year-old from Hubei province in China.  By December 20 there were 60 confirmed cases.  To date the virus has spread to 81,000 other people in China alone.  According to the World Health Organization, this virus has now spread to 125,048 people around the world and has caused 4613 of them to die.

On its COVID-19 website, CDC has a page called “How to Protect Yourself.”  This page declares that “the best way to prevent illness is to avoid being exposed to this virus.” And “the virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person, between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet), [and] through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs.”

The recommendations include suggestions to “Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily.  This includes tables, doorknobs, light switches, countertops, handles, desks, phones, keyboards, toilets, faucets, and sinks.  If surfaces are dirty, clean them: Use detergent or soap and water prior to disinfection.”  And to “avoid close contact with people who are sick…Put distance between yourself and other people if COVID-19 is spreading in your community.” (Social distancing.)  And to cover your cough with a tissue, then throw away the tissue and wash your hands.  And if you’re sick to stay home and to wear a mask if you must go where there are other people. 

Here my distillation of the basic message: Break the viral transmission cycle through sequestration.  Make sure that viruses don’t ride into town on an object by frequently cleaning and disinfecting commonly shared objects.  And most importantly, make sure that when the virus goes searching for new mouths and noses there are none to find—because sick people are separated from everybody else—either in their own homes or in hospitals if they are very ill, and because of social distancing.

So, it’s that simple—deprived of new victims, either chickens or humans, depending on the virus, the virus simply withers and dies. 

But, sadly, it isn’t really that simple because people don’t get it.  A recent New York Times article told how in the face of this pending epidemic, and in spite of public health warnings to avoid crowds, bars have been packed in New York City, and Chicago, and Baltimore, and Los Angeles, and even in Seattle where the virus is already rampant. 

Perhaps there’s at least one segment of the population that is doing what needs to be done and is practicing social distancing.  You flock keepers know how to keep your chickens safe, so you can apply that knowledge to yourselves, right?  I hope so.  Be careful.  Be safe.