this post was submitted on 28 Jan 2025
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H5N1 Avian Flu aka. HPAI

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[–] Pistcow@lemm.ee 14 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Oh so that means we're proper fucked, right?

Good thing I stocked my N95 masks.

[–] psyklax@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

According to the CDC, bird flu isn't transmissible between humans (yet). Cases in humans were always related to exposure to infected poultry.

[–] chuckleslord 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

No, it's transmitted between birds. Human to human transmission has not been reported yet

[–] mojofrododojo 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

yet

knowing these fucks, it's only a matter of time.

[–] Pistcow@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago

That the thing...yet... And no one is going to stop Captain Ficktard from making us drink bleach and shove horse dewurmer up or ass the next time.

[–] pastaPersona 10 points 1 month ago

Well, always wondered what those boxed egg whites tasted like.

[–] kitnaht 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The egg prices thing is a ploy. They've been one of the most profitable industries as of late.

[–] shalafi 8 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Jesus. Do you even read the news? The news of the past several years?

This is the new normal. Factory farming gives us cheap eggs, but leads to massive culling operations as a result of bird flu. They culled 100,000,000 birds last time. That's a 1 with 8 zeroes.

Don't like it? Raise your own damned birds. We're starting in the next month or two. Adult layers are $10-$30 each on Craigslist, chicks are stupid cheap.

[–] kitnaht 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I already do.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2023/03/29/countrys-largest-egg-producer-saw-profits-surge-718-amid-shortage/

The industry saw profits rise 700% due to "shortages". They see this as an opportunity to raise it further.

[–] bungalowtill@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

How do you protect you birds from birdflu?

[–] kitnaht 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

I buy more of them when they die. Killing them because they have bird flu destroys their ability to adapt and combat that strain. Ones that don't die aren't completely immune from it, but they're pretty close.

I only have like 6 hens; I don't need to take the same precautions that farms do.

[–] bungalowtill@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

And you’re not worried to get infected?

[–] kitnaht 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

No? H5N1 is rarely transmissible to humans. The biggest fear is a mutation that allows human-to-human transmission.

[–] Ptsf 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Ah yes, not preventing the spread of disease to prevent the spread of disease. 5D chess champ

[–] kitnaht 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

No, not preventing the spread of disease because chickens are cheap and the ones that survive are stronger. Basic natural selection. It's just less acceptable to do this to the human population.

[–] Ptsf 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

You're missing the point. You're arguing for a natural "solution" to a natural problem. Nature (the chickens immune system) has been trying to solve for diseases attacking it for millions of years. Letting that approach play out may work occasionally in practice, but it completely discounts disease mutation, the long term immune system effects diseases can have on the "stronger" ones that survive (not every encounter with all diseases actually leads to longterm immunity, some are actually significantly worse the second time around due to lasting damage inflicted upon the immune system or genetics), and a host of other unaccounted variables like the extreme changes in exposure vectors we've subjected the animals to.

[–] kitnaht 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Diseases typically mutate to become milder over time, not stronger. You can't spread when you kill the host; and mine are isolated, not in a large population so something like this only occurs rarely. There's a level of reasonability here that I feel isn't taken into account. There's no point in me taking all of these measures for a tiny flock.

[–] dohpaz42 1 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Do you absolutely need a rooster to have egg-laying chickens for non-breeding purposes?

[–] warbond 3 points 1 month ago

Chickens will lay eggs regardless, they just won't be viable without the rooster's participation.

[–] this_1_is_mine 2 points 1 month ago

Only if you want more chickens. Unless that cock is shooting blanks.

[–] teamevil 2 points 1 month ago

My friends had two hens that laid eggs with no rooster. It was great.

[–] gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 month ago

No, but if you have one (or more, but the ratio is roughly 1:5 for rooster:hens) then you can also sell your eggs as fertilizer and make some cash that way as well, while also spreading chickens to others!

Eggs only start to hatch when kept at the right temp and humidity, so they're not anything to worry about by being fertilized if you wanna eat them

[–] sudo42 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Now that the federal health regulators are neutered, how long do you think it's gonna be before these corpos start selling the infect hens rather than killing them?

Chicken prices are gonna start dropping fast! /s

[–] kinther 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Most chickens that get H5N1 die within 24-48 hours if what I've read is correct. They also don't show many if any signs of infection until they just drop dead. Once you start seeing some of them die, there's a good chance that most of your flock is already infected - hence the cullings. You want to stop it from spreading as quickly as possible and not give it a chance to further reproduce.

[–] Fredselfish 1 points 1 month ago

So they will just sell us the meat from these birds? Not like RKJ will care, probably think good won't let the meat go to waste.

Fuck better stock up on eggs and chicken while we can.