Bird flu cases in Monmouth County NJ rattle egg, poultry farmers - Asbury Park Press

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Normally, Puglisi Farms — the state's largest egg producer — would keep some 60,000 chickens at its Howell farm.

Not this year.

As a deadly bird flu sweeps across the nation, poultry and egg farmers like the Puglisis are nervous. Tom Puglisi, whose family owns the farm, said they decided keeping tens of thousands of chickens in one location was too risky.

"We've chosen not to have any (this year), because we're too nervous about the disease," Puglisi said, adding that the family is sourcing eggs from farms in Pennsylvania instead.

Across New Jersey, poultry and egg farmers are worried for their flocks. Last week, cases of  "highly pathogenic avian influenza," or HPAI, were discovered in a backyard flock in Monmouth County. State and federal agriculture officials said the flock had an unusually high number of deaths and signs of neurological illness among domestically raised ducks that were later found to have the virus.

Cases of the deadly bird flu were also found earlier this year among mallard ducks in Cape May County.

While deadly to birds, the avian flu is considered a "low risk" to humans, although at least one person — a worker who was culling birds at an infected facility — contracted the virus in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control. He was isolated, treated with antiviral drugs and has since recovered, according to the CDC.

Once the virus infects a flock, authorities require all the poultry be killed to prevent the infection from spreading.

The current strain in the United States has affected an estimated 38 million birds so far, according to the CDC. The virus has been found in wild birds across 38 states and among commercial and domestic poultry in 35 states.

Though avian flu has infected portions of the nation's poultry supply before, this year's widespread outbreak is making poultry farmers like Scott Ashley particularly nervous. His family's Ashley Farms in Flanders, Morris County, raises about 7,000 turkeys each year that supply Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner tables around the region, he said.

"I'm 42, so in all my years of raising them (turkeys), this is the most worried I've ever been," Ashley said. "My dad has been raising them obviously a lot longer than me, and this is also the most worried he's ever been."

Avian flu can spread to domestic birds by wild bird saliva, nasal discharge and droppings. Some wild birds, such as wild ducks, can carry the virus but not show signs of illness from their infections, according to the CDC. However, domestic birds are more likely to become sick or die from the highly contagious flu, according to the agency. 

Ashley Farms staff are disinfecting the tires of farm equipment to prevent any wild bird droppings from being carried to the turkeys, Scott Ashley said. They have designated boots for the turkey barns that they sanitize in a disinfectant foot bath, he added. The staff also works to prevent small wild birds from entering the turkey barns, he said.

The Ashleys also closed a viewing area of the baby turkeys that was popular with children and families.

Though the farming family also sells produce, flowers and baked goods, turkeys comprise about 70% to 75% of the farm's business, Scott Ashley said.

"I hate the thought of even what would happen (if the turkeys became infected)," he said. "I guess we would squeak through somehow, hopefully."

Despite these worries, New Jersey poultry and egg farmers are better positioned to get through this bird flu outbreak than many others across the nation, said Peter Furey, executive director of the New Jersey Farm Bureau. Farmers in the Delmarva Peninsula, where large commercial poultry farms are close together, are at greater risk of bird flu due to their scale and proximity, he said. In comparison, New Jersey's relatively small, isolated poultry farming operations are safer, he said.

"The industry has been bracing for this for a couple of months, and they've been adopting common sense, bio-sanitary preventive measures," said Furey. "I rather think we will do okay. (I'm) not too concerned about an outbreak, but that's only because we've been queued up for so long. And everybody else around us got it."

Amanda Oglesby is an Ocean County native who covers Brick, Barnegat and Lacey townships as well as the environment. She has worked for the Press for more than a decade. Reach her at @OglesbyAPP, aoglesby@gannettnj.com or 732-557-5701.

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