Local farmer preparing for bird flu outbreak
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — 48 states are battling outbreaks of the Avian Flu, or Bird Flu, according to the CDC.
Oklahoma is no exception and experts are already worried it could push up the price of eggs ad chicken.
One local farmer is doing everything she can to protect her flock, but it is not only birds who contract this disease.
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Most farm animals are at risk so Redeanna Tucker is working day and night to keep her animals safe.
“Currently we’re building a totally enclosed pen for them (chickens),” Tucker said. “It’s for their protection.”
Tucker, amongst other farmers are doing what they can to protect their animals from the Bird Flu.
She is being proactive with her animals by keeping them separate from each other.
“We could lose our eggs, our chicken, our cattle, our beef, our goats,” Tucker said. So, it could affect our meat and our dairy.”
Tucker provides fresh eggs and milk to the community. She also runs a petting zoo.
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“It can carry on the clothing and a lot of people aren’t aware of that,” Tucker said. “It is not contagious, human to human, but it’s very easily contaminated on the clothing to the animals.”
There are a lot of factors at play in how Bird Flu could be passed to her animals and how it can spread, making it challenging for her and other farmers to prevent an outbreak.
“They run a fever and they have sneezing and coughing just like humans,” Tucker said. “They could have loose stools. Those are the main signs that we’re going to look for in our cattle and our poultry.”
Hoping to never see these symptoms, Tucker will continue to do everything she can to protect her animals.
“We already wear gloves when we’re milking the goats and handling the eggs, but it’s just going to be a little bit more cautious,” Tucker said.
According to government data, the price of a dozen eggs has gone up about $1 in the past six months.
Experts don’t expect prices to go up much more than that, but say the spike could last into the summer.
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