With the avian flu now present in Manitoba, chicken producers need to be more vigilant than ever. According to Jake Wiebe, the Chair of Manitoba Chicken Producers, they're reminding producers it's important to stick to the basics.
We don't want to track it into our production facilities...Cleaning up feed spills outside the barn if there are any so as not to attract any of the wild birds, and then of course the footwear changes that we have been doing for years already, just continue to pay attention to that and make sure that we don't track anything into our barns.
The province is asking for the public's help to identify cases in wild birds, Manitobans are asked to contact the toll-free TIP Line at 1-800-782-0076 if they find any of the following:
- Clusters of six or more dead waterfowl (e.g., ducks, geese) or other water birds
- Any number of dead raptors or avian scavengers (e.g., ravens, crows, gulls)
- Large groups of dead birds, such as more than 20 of any species.