Bird Flu is Spiking Again. Here’s What Producers and Industry Are Doing About It

Mandy Melnyk has made some changes to her egg and poultry business in the last few months. The owner of Meadow Creek Farms in northern Alberta serves about 200 families a month with her egg subscriptions and broiler chickens—but now, instead of customers coming to pick up their orders from Melnyk directly, she’s spending a lot of time in the car, delivering them herself. 

Like many poultry farmers, Melnyk is worried about Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), or bird flu. The virus has been plaguing the industry since the 1960s, but the current H5N1 variant first came to prominence in the mid-1990s, when there were large outbreaks in southern China and Hong Kong. This current wave, which started last year, has spread to more than 80 countries. While there are ebbs and flows of disease transmission, the big outbreak that plagued producers in 2022 hasn’t shown signs of slowing yet. 

Anybody who comes into your yard is a risk, she says. “[The disease is] so small, it’s like a minute little piece of dust. So, you’re at risk all the time. Anything you do with poultry is truly just a risky kind of business,” says Melnyk. “You have to get really creative, and you have to be on the ball. For me, going directly to people’s houses is the safest way I can keep all sorts of things off my farm.” 

Rather than let customers come to her, and potentially infect the birds on her property, Melnyk is going to them, and then disinfecting when she gets back home. It’s part of a stringent biosecurity regime, which gets updated and tweaked as needed. “I have a zillion pairs of different rubber boots. I have rubber boots all over my yard, to use for different areas. My boot management is very good,” says Melnyk. She also uses vinegar and