Could my backyard chickens cause the next pandemic?
David Waltner-Toews is a veterinary epidemiologist and professor emeritus at the University of Guelph. His most recent book isNews outlets have been warning over the past year that we could be on the verge of an avian influenza pandemic that could infect humans and be much more deadly thanThe concerns are valid and urgent. But if the coronavirus pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that spending large amounts of money in a moment of panic is a poor response.
After my retirement, my wife gave me seven baby chicks for my 70th birthday. I did not remember having expressed any desire to own chickens, so I was both confused and happily surprised. Indeed, although his declaration was one of political expediency, Henry would have recognized, and perhaps smiled at, the recent rush for people to own chickens as a hedge against inflation, or to sidestep the disruptions of pandemic supply chains.
Since it was first noticed more than 20 years ago, highly pathogenic avian influenza has killed tens of millions of chickens; more have been slaughtered to prevent its spread. As long as the virus remained in chickens, the main concern – not a trivial one – has been economic. That is now changing. The hens produce a great deal more excrement than eggs, so it is important to have a composter and a garden, or at least friends who have those. If it were just about saved cash, I’m not sure I could recommend it. After a year, as every chicken farmer knows, production drops off, and birds die.
I have been able to divert almost all my leftover table scraps from the landfill by feeding them to the chickens. My hens have offered me the discipline of forced daily exercise, kept my blood pressure within normal limits, and been an audience for my rants, which otherwise might have cluttered the inboxes of newspaper editors. They have also offered opportunities for off-key singing, thus enabling me to not compromise my human friendships.
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