FLCK201 - Biosecurity

When visiting multiple properties (and leaving your own), you will need to take proper biosecurity measures to prevent the spread of disease such as Avian Flu and Marek’s. Most of these diseases exist and are spread through fecal matter which makes changing shoes the single most important thing you can do to reduce the likelihood of spreading disease between flocks. Below is a list of standard biosecurity measures. Make sure you are familiar and comfortable with these when making your visits.

1) Shoes: You should have a clean pair of shoes for each property you visit. These could be regular shoes (like tennis shoes) that you have cleaned and sanitized, or it could be boot/shoe covers. We might make 5+ visits to different properties in a day, so we keep separate bags with a pair of shoes in each bag and label them for every property we visit. It’s important to note that not only do you want to prevent disease spreading between flocks, you also don’t want to bring anything bad home either!

2) Hand Sanitizer: This is an easy thing to keep in the car with you. Apply some sanitizer after each visit to reduce the spread of germs and bacterial.

3) Clothing: If you find yourself picking up/handling birds often (sometimes they like to jump on you), play it safe by changing clothes when you get home. You can check for obvious signs of poop and dirt when you leave, but some stuff you just won’t see.