Do backyard chooks threaten Qld’s $588m poultry industry?
by JOE HINCHLIFFE
Authorities in Queensland were on high alert after a virus ripped through Victoria, claiming hundreds of thousands of avian lives and forcing many more into lockdown.
Nearly half a million domestic birds in that state were culled in the weeks following the first case of the virus in late July 2021. The birds destroyed were overwhelmingly chickens, but also turkeys and emus.
The three separate outbreaks were the hardest bird flu ever to hit Victoria and have led to calls for backyard chook owners and free range producers, in particular, to help prevent a similar situation occurring in Queensland.
Such an outbreak has the potential to devastate the South East, which is home to around 90 percent of the state’s $588 million poultry industry.
Chicken farming is on the rise in Queensland following a decline in the dairy industry.
Department of Agriculture and Fisheries’ Perry Jones said bird flu was one of the state’s two biggest threats to animal biosecurity, the other being African swine fever.
The collapse of international travel since Covid-19 has significantly reduced the threat posed by the latter.
But following events in Victoria, Mr Jones said the department was on alert for an outbreak of the former.
The Boonah-based district biosecurity inspector said the state was well placed to avoid bird flu and ready to act should one occur.
He said it was now industry requirements for major producers to chlorinate the water they provide their poultry, eliminating a major source of transmission from wild birds.
Avian influenza viruses are common in wild birds and strike domestic poultry when the two interact.
Mr Jones said the big sheds which comprised the majority of the Scenic Rim’s industry were fitted with wires and nets to prevent that interaction.
“The only risk would be it starting in backyards where there may be intermingling with wild birds and domestic birds,” he said.
Johanna Bell runs a small free range chicken farm and orchard on Tamborine Mountain.
Like many on the mountain, she grew up with backyard chooks and would give away surplus eggs. People loved them, she said, with some insisting on paying.
And once they tasted free range eggs, many couldn’t go back to mass produced.
“It grew from there,” she said. “So we thought, why not follow our passion?”
In 2016, the family went commercial. Allamburra Organics now runs about 200 chooks, which roam alongside sheep in a patchwork of rainforest, avocado groves, lychee and lime trees.
Under the watchful eye of maremma dogs, the hens produce around 150 eggs a day. These are delivered around the South East through the Scenic Rim Farm Box, sold in a few local shops or at the farm gate.
The business is now at a “happy medium”, Ms Bell said.
“It’s a bit of a balancing act with supply and demand,” the young farmer said.
“We only want to meet local demand and we don’t want to overcrowd our farm with thousands of chickens.”
It is the kind of idyllic farm that many consumers picture when they buy free range eggs.
But not all free range egg producers operate on such a boutique scale.
The free range farms at the centre of Victoria’s outbreak ran tens of thousands of birds and prompted a backlash from the Victorian Farmers Federation against such large scale, free range operations.
Queensland’s last outbreak occurred in Lowood back in 1994 at a layer farm with 22,000 birds, a flock considered small by industry standards.
But Victoria’s Chief Veterinary Officer Graeme Cooke told ABC’s Landline the virus did not discriminate between producers.
“Avian influenza has affected cage birds all over the world, often with catastrophic consequences, irrespective of whether there’s free range flocks or not,” he said late last month.
“The most important thing is to have very good biosecurity to prevent those wild birds making contact with the domestic birds.”
Mr Jones said biosecurity officers were permanently at the ready to respond to an outbreak.
But he said the system was “heavily reliant” on chicken owners and poultry producers to immediately report sick birds and mass mortalities.
“When people hide it away or don’t report it, that’s when it grows and becomes a problem,” he said.
He called on chook owners to prevent interactions between wild and domestic birds, especially around feeders and water sources.
If you suspect avian influenza in birds within Queensland, contact the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries immediately on 13 25 23 (business hours) or the Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline on 1800 675 888 (after hours).