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At each site, they identi- fied the species of wild birds that shared habitat with the chickens, that were detected more fre- quently and that entered the coops.
“A songbird has no rea- son to come down near a chicken unless there’s a food source,” she said. Potential dangers of pathogen crossover
“This paper is yet an- other piece of that puzzle,” she said.
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There were some sur- prises in terms of species, according to Prof Hernan- dez.
“Some of those species have needed very care- ful management to return them to viable populations because they were at the brink of extinction not that long ago,” Prof Her- nandez said.
“We want people to be aware that all the things that impact the environ- ment and impact the health of animals – pol- lution, contaminants and pathogens – also affect our health.
Page 10 – National Poultry Newspaper, November 2022
“Offering supplemental food blurs those lines, be- cause birds are more will- ing to cross those lines for
Wild birds can spread disease to backyard chick- ens, and backyard chick- ens can spread disease to wild birds.
“Given an opportunity to forage for natural food, songbirds will do better with that,” she said. Allyson Mann University of Georgia
Wild birds can take advantage of the food and water that’s put out for chickens. Photos: UGA
Wild bird and chicken contact risky
n Pathogens can be transmitted between the two
WILD birds come into contact with backyard chicken flocks more fre- quently than people re- alise, creating a pathway for pathogens to transmit back and forth, accord- ing to new research from the University of Geor- gia in the US.
food and water that’s put out for chickens.”
a resource that’s provided artificially,” she said.
Add in the humans that care for the chickens, and there’s opportunity for disease to spread into – or out of – that group as well.
Such pathways increase the risk for spill-over events that can threaten the health of all these groups – wild birds, back- yard chickens and the peo- ple who care for them.
For the study, published in Epidemiology and In- fection, Prof Hernandez and a team – including first author and postdoc- toral researcher at Yale University who earned a PhD in comparative bio- medical sciences at UGA Andrea Ayala – conducted a supplemental feeding experiment followed by observations at three sites with backyard chickens in north Georgia.
“Offering food in the coop saves the owner money, keeps the food from being exposed to rain and other elements, and minimises the amount of waste in the area,” Prof Hernandez said.
Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported an outbreak of salmonella ty- phimurium, which causes disease in people but also kills songbirds.
Warnell School of For- estry and Natural Re- sources and the College of Veterinary Medicine Professor of wildlife dis- ease Sonia Hernandez said, “Most people prob- ably don’t realise how fre- quently wild birds come in and take advantage of the
“If chickens are allowed to free range, don’t of- fer them food during that time.
“What was unusual about that outbreak is that a high percentage of peo- ple reported contact with either wild birds or bird feeders,” Prof Hernan- dez said, who was work- ing with the CDC on this topic.
“Wild birds learn that resource and those contact points can become places where pathogens such as Newcastle disease virus and avian influenza virus can be transmitted back and forth.”
The best way to prevent contact between backyard chickens and wild birds is to offer food in a place that’s secure – in the coop behind mesh where chick- ens can access it, but wild birds can’t.
“Families with children would be susceptible if they’re handling chickens that are shedding salmo- nella, since children are less likely to have good hygiene,” she said.
The team identified 14 wild bird species that en- tered the coop to consume supplemental feed and were considered high risk for pathogen transmission.
Songbirds and other wildlife are extremely vulnerable to the intro- duction of pathogens from domestic animals, Prof Hernandez said.
“Sometimes people get sick and don’t know where it comes from.
“Interestingly, seasonal- ity played a role – but not the one that we expected,” Ms Ayala said.
Newcastle disease virus and avian influenza vi- rus circulate in backyard chickens, but there are other pathogens that can also circulate.
“It’s possible that it comes from handling the dishes, the feeders or the waterers, either from the chickens or from the wild birds.”
“We had hypothesised that feeding rates would be highest in winter, but for some species such as blue jays, the opposite was detected.”
“Salmonella is some- thing that kills songbirds every year, and mycoplas- ma makes songbirds sick,” she said.
Though pathogen cross- over can have serious consequences, Prof Her- nandez wants to promote awareness – and responsi- ble practices – rather than fear.
Over 60 hours of ob- servation, 1574 individual wild birds were detected across the three sites, comprising 72 species from 24 families.
Wild birds in North America are currently experiencing an avian in- fluenza outbreak that’s se- verely impacting species such as bald eagles, vul- tures and waterfowl.
“We live in an era in which the boundaries be- tween human health and wild animal health are very tenuous because we’ve created circum- stances that allow for crossover,” she said.
The sites attracted spe- cies that were seed eaters and grain eaters, and also some insectivores.
“Yet avian influenza threatens to undo all that effort, planning and care- ful monitoring.
The presence of food presents an ecological op- portunity that may attract birds who wouldn’t neces- sarily come down to the ground, Prof Hernandez said.
“By studying how patho- gens move among domes- tic and wild birds, we can better understand how to manage and prevent prob- lems in the future.”
“We are not separated from our environments.”
In the forest, some birds are at the very top of the canopy, some are in the middle, some are in the under story and some are on the ground.
The study’s results con- firmed that pathogen transmission is bidirec- tional, Ms Ayala said.
For people who like to feed birds, Prof Hernan- dez suggested that in- stead of providing food, it would better to create a backyard habitat that al- lows wild birds to feed themselves.
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