Clucking stops at chicken swaps amid bird flu fears

By this spring the area routinely "maxed out" with up to 6,000 live birds - mostly farm-raised chickens - sold to the highest bidder.

No more.

In late May, the Indiana Board of Animal Health banned the movement of fowl to events where co-mingling occurs. Raber had to shut down much of what he calls the "furs and feathers" part of his operation.

"It's hurt quite a bit," said Raber, who estimates his revenues are down almost 30 percent.

Prompting the ban - mirrored in states across the nation - is avian flu. The fast-spreading virus found in 21 states so far has claimed 50 million chickens and turkeys, many killed in mass slaughters undertaken to prevent further spread of the disease.

The disease is taking an expensive toll on the commercial poultry industry.

Egg prices in grocery stores have spiked 200 percent.

It's also causing hardship at places like Dinky's that cater to bird enthusiasts and backyard chicken farmers whose numbers are growing, state officials said.

To enforce the ban, workers from the Board of Animal Health are traveling to auction houses and swap meets to search for banned birds.

Inspectors visited the most recent swap meet held by amateur horse lovers with the Golden Horseshoe Saddle Club in Knox to ensure illicit feathered creatures were kept out.

The club hosts the meets, charging vendors $10 each, to raise money for taxes on a small parcel where it holds horse shows.

"We just stand on the side of the road where they enter and tell them, 'If you got anything with a feather on it, you can't come in,'" said club president Brian Clark.

The ban has meant losing fees from a dozen bird vendors who regularly attended the swap meet - including one who sells peacock chicks.

The ban was bad news. Worse is how long it may last.

The emergency order from the Board of Animal Health will likely extend through this year.

"We know that's a hardship for a lot of people," said board spokeswoman Denise Derrer. "And we know people are worried about protecting their investments."

But, in a worst-case scenario, the ban could last up to three years to prevent what Derrer says would be an agricultural nightmare brought on by avian flu.

There's no vaccine yet to combat the virus carried by migratory fowl that travel along the Mississippi flyway - an area that includes Indiana and other major egg-producing states.

Scientists aren't even sure how it's transmitted. Likely culprits - bird droppings, saliva, rodents, animal feed and even dust particles - are hard to control.

"We've not had anything like this," Derrer said of the highly pathogenic strains that spread throughout Asia, Europe and the Middle East before landing here. "The potential for devastation is unmatched."

The Board of Animal Health has been gathering comments online, through a virtual public hearing, in advance of a July meeting when it will decide whether to extend the ban.

A common suggestion is to let bird owners test their animals using a federally approved kit that detects avian flu in chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese.

But those tests aren't 100 percent reliable. A second option, using a more expensive and sophisticated test sent to the state's only animal diagnostic lab at Purdue University, "would just overwhelm the system," Derrer said.

"We're trying hard to get out ahead of this," she said.