{"id":36406,"date":"2023-01-09T11:40:23","date_gmt":"2023-01-09T18:40:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/avian-flu-wreaks-more-havoc-in-colorado-egg-layers-and-wild-birds\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T12:34:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T12:34:35","slug":"avian-flu-wreaks-more-havoc-in-colorado-egg-layers-and-wild-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/avian-flu-wreaks-more-havoc-in-colorado-egg-layers-and-wild-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"Avian flu wreaks more havoc in Colorado egg layers and wild birds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/p>

Colorado\u2019s worst-ever avian flu outbreak has now resulted in nearly 6.4 million poultry deaths and is increasingly crossing over into wild birds, killing bald eagles and other precious raptors in what wildlife watchers call \u201cthe stuff of bad dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mass slaughter of egg-laying flocks has decimated the commercial egg market in the state, with every large producer now affected after a spread of the outbreak in December. Wildlife officials say they are overwhelmed by reports of carcasses in the wild and have limited testing of dead birds in order to concentrate efforts in the most impacted areas.<\/p>\n

Colorado agriculture and wildlife officials say they have no way to stop the flu\u2019s spread among migratory birds, and expect waves of deaths to continue through early winter until birds settle into winter grounds. Mass die-offs are likely to pick up again in the spring as flocks of snow geese, Canada geese and other common birds head back north.<\/p>\n

Wildlife officials mourned the first death of a tagged and tracked bald eagle last month, from among Colorado\u2019s resurgent but still tenuous population of nesting bald eagles totaling 250 to 300 pairs statewide.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u200bt\u2019s definitely somewhat demoralizing, especially to be losing these numbers of birds and in so many locations,\u201d Colorado Parks and Wildlife avian researcher Reesa Conrey said. \u201cI know our wildlife officers and our wildlife health staff are overwhelmed, quite frankly, with just the sheer number of reports and in all the cases that they would like to respond to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bird watchers and volunteer trackers are watching their favorite nesting pairs with dread, in fear of what rare raptors are ingesting every time they land on an animal carcass to feed. Dana Bove, founder of Front Range Nesting Bald Eagle Studies, said recent news of eagle deaths from avian flu in Colorado are literally \u201cthe stuff of my bad dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n

Domestic bird slaughter hits egg market hard<\/div>\n

Consumers continue to see the impact of the bird flu\u2019s spread in Colorado grocery stores.<\/p>\n

Egg supplies have been supplemented by shipments from other states, but recent outbreaks have hit producers in Kansas, Tennessee, Illinois, Missouri, California and Oregon, Colorado Department of Agriculture spokeswoman Olga Robak said.<\/p>\n

Egg production in Colorado plummeted to a meager 41.1 million eggs in October \u2013 or about one-third the number of eggs from earlier months. The loss of production tracked the mass slaughter of laying flocks in a spring spike in the flu outbreak, and then again in the fall as waterfowl migration accelerated the spread.<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s 6 million egg-laying chickens typically produce about 1.56 billion eggs per year. In 2022, that number fell to less than 1 billion eggs. After slaughters of 260,000 and 1.35 million birds in Weld County in December, Colorado has now seen essentially its entire commercial egg flock wiped out in less than a year.<\/p>\n

Nationwide, 57.8 million birds in 47 states<\/a> have either died or been culled due to the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The previous record was set in 2015 when the avian flu outbreak killed off 50.5 million birds in 21 states.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the price of eggs continued to rise in the fall. According to the Consumer Price Index, a dozen large Grade A eggs cost $3.59 a dozen in November, more than double the price a year ago.<\/p>\n

The devastating virus overshadowed other factors that caused a spike in egg prices in recent years. For some local farmers, chicken feed costs are up 75% since before the pandemic, said Chris Sramek with High Plains Eggs, a co-op that includes farms in Colorado and Kansas. The war in Ukraine has meant farmers can\u2019t buy Ukrainian peas and soybeans to feed animals and have had to scramble for alternatives.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also higher transportation and delivery costs, limited supply of egg cartons and cold weather, which impacts egg production. That\u2019s all caused farmers to raise prices just to cover the additional costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year cuts the cake,\u201d Sramek said. \u201cThat $6 a dozen for a local egg farm is probably right on for the cost of a small producer. We\u2019ve got a little more scale so we can make the numbers a little better. My spreadsheet is showing around $5.21 to $5.50. But that\u2019s at cost.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are other costs to get eggs to consumers. A dozen eggs are likely more expensive in the store. At Natural Grocers, which has a customer loyalty program that subsidizes its free-range eggs, there\u2019s now a limit of two dozen per customer and the company just raised its members-only minimum price by $1 to $2.99 per dozen, starting Jan. 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cFreight and shipping costs have tripled, in many cases from $300 per pallet to $1,000 per pallet, making shipping anything other than a full truckload impossible,\u201d said Christie Pettys, Natural Grocers\u2019 product standards manager. \u201c(And) packaging costs have skyrocketed as well with a more than 55% increase in the last 18 months. Add in the recent weather, and wow.\u201d<\/p>\n

High Plains Eggs farms weren\u2019t impacted by avian flu. They\u2019re actually expanding. But that means they\u2019re competing to buy pullets, or young female chickens that need about another 10 weeks to get to full-size egg production. There\u2019s a shortage of baby chicks because of high demand to replace slaughtered flocks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe avian flu not only knocked out production layers but the pullets, the baby chicks. We put an order in September and you can\u2019t get any until July,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s like with the trucks. If you want to get a refrigerated truck now, you\u2019ve got to wait a year or two. That doesn\u2019t work. This makes me wonder every day what\u2019s going to happen? What\u2019s going to break? What are we going to have to deal with?\u201d<\/p>\n

Raptor rescues trying to \u201cplay the long game\u201d<\/div>\n

Wildlife officials and observers are more and more concerned about the crossover of flu into limited populations of raptors and other wild birds. Snow goose and Canada goose flocks are robust, and can likely recover the loss of a few thousand birds at a time, like those recorded in Eastern Plains counties. But an additional threat to species like bald eagles, which number only in the hundreds statewide, strains conservation efforts.<\/p>\n

Rocky Mountain Raptor Program rehabilitation coordinator Mike Tincher said the raptors most affected by the outbreak appear to be red-tailed hawks and great horned owls, two species that have been doing well in the state. The injured birds that Rocky Mountain Raptor Program picks up all get swabbed and tested for avian flu infection, but with limited resources and personnel, they can\u2019t cover every case, Tincher said.<\/p>\n

The full scope of the outbreak in wild birds might be worse.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200b\u200bWith the amount of birds that we\u2019re seeing, we know that\u2019s only the tip of the iceberg,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause there\u2019s birds that are probably being impacted \u2013 raptors that are being impacted \u2013 that are dying, that nobody\u2019s seeing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wildlife agencies will continue to publish updates on the situation online for anyone concerned, Tincher said. Colorado Parks and Wildlife asks residents who find more than three dead larger-sized birds, such as waterfowl or raptors, to report them, but not handle the carcasses. They also warn bird watchers to not go out on the ice to investigate or handle any carcasses, complicating bird rescue with human rescues.<\/p>\n

Transmission of avian flu to humans is almost nonexistent, but remains possible, wildlife officials say. But humans can transmit the virus to birds or animals. Tincher said he\u2019s been able to keep his backyard chicken coop healthy by taking proper safety precautions and changing clothing after he returns home from work with the raptors.<\/p>\n

Rehabilitators like himself are helping as many birds as they can, Tincher said, but since this disease isn\u2019t treatable the outbreak will likely have to run its course. Time will tell how well wild bird populations will manage.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny good virus won\u2019t kill everything that comes in contact with it because it loses its ability to propagate,\u201d he said. \u201cWill this change, and temper, and not be as lethal to raptors? We don\u2019t know yet. Right now, we\u2019re playing the long game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wildlife watchers would like more testing<\/div>\n

Overrun by calls about carcasses, state wildlife researchers are now limiting testing for their winter season. Once they have a positive test in a species in one county, they will assume that species is in danger and not test more of those birds until the spring migration season begins, Conrey said.<\/p>\n

Bove, the volunteer researcher, worries that sharply limited state counting and testing will miss important information about where infected waterfowl are mixing with raptor populations, and how the virus spreads around Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile there are volunteer groups in the Front Range that do regular winter raptor survey routes, there is no currently organized effort to count dead waterfowl, what type, where and the date,\u201d Bove said. \u201cThis type of information could go into an organized database, but to my knowledge, nobody has organized such an effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though the state can\u2019t promise all carcasses will be tested, Conrey said, researchers still want reports from the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still interested in logging all those reports because it gives us a better sense of the scope of the disease, where it is, and how much of an issue it is, and what species are being reported,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Bove, for his group\u2019s part, wishes for a clearer focus on the threat to wild birds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think on the research end, a lot more could be done in our state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bird lovers carry on with celebrations<\/div>\n

Some of the more organized celebrants of wild birds in Colorado are moving forward with plans while keeping one eye on state updates.<\/p>\n

Jessica Medina is the director of the High Plains Snow Goose Festival in Lamar, a celebration of local heritage and wildlife \u2013 specifically the snow geese stopping in Colorado on their southern migration \u2013 that will mark its 20th anniversary in February. She said that although the avian flu outbreak is on her radar, she isn\u2019t worried about it being a problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not something that we\u2019re going to cancel a festival over,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

While there have been large die-offs in the thousands for snow geese in the latest spread of the outbreak, the migratory flocks of the birds that Colorado is famous for are so large they should not be impacted.<\/p>\n

And even if they were affected, festival attendees would be able to have fun no matter how much of the flock makes an appearance, Medina said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s 1,000 to 10,000 geese less than what they\u2019re expecting, it\u2019s still a sight to behold, and it\u2019s still entertaining for them, and it\u2019s still educational,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s a lot of great things to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Worst-ever outbreak leads to slaughter of 6 million-plus chickens and has killed enough eagles and other raptors to raise wildlife fears<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,11,1030],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-36406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-economy-general","tag-environment"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36406"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36408,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36406\/revisions\/36408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36406"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=36406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}