Bird Flu Season: How to Protect Your Flock This Autumn, and What to Do If You Suspect It

In mid-October 2025 Reuters, citing the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), which drew on a report from the Iraqi authorities, reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in the town of Bashiqa in Nineveh governorate, northern Iraq, which killed about 12,000 birds. In the same month neighbouring Iran declared an outbreak of the same strain. The timing was no coincidence: autumn is the migration season of wild birds, and migratory wild birds, especially waterfowl such as wild ducks and geese, are the natural reservoir of avian influenza viruses, according to WOAH.

WOAH reports show that the last epidemic season began in October 2025 and peaked in November, consistent with the disease’s known seasonality in the Northern Hemisphere. From the start of that season to the end of August 2026, 1,619 outbreaks were recorded in poultry in 46 countries and territories, compared with 1,431 in the season before, and 7,444 outbreaks in wild birds compared with 1,926. In other words, last season the virus spread far more widely in wild birds than in previous seasons, and a new season is beginning now.

When to suspect avian influenza

WOAH distinguishes two forms of the disease: a low pathogenic form that usually causes few or no signs, and a highly pathogenic form that causes severe signs and may bring high mortality, often around half the flock. The FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) guide for small-scale poultry keepers states that mortality ranges from 50% to 100%, and that signs usually appear 2 to 5 days after the virus enters. The disease appears suddenly and many birds die, sometimes without any earlier sign. Among the signs the guide lists:

• Dullness, poor appetite, ruffled feathers and fever, with weakness and a staggering gait.
• Birds sitting or standing as if asleep with their heads touching the ground, and nervous signs, especially in younger birds.
• Swollen combs and wattles, dark red to blue, sometimes with pinpoint haemorrhages at their tips.
• Soft-shelled eggs at first, then laying hens stop producing.
• Profuse watery diarrhoea with marked thirst, fast and laboured breathing, and haemorrhages on unfeathered skin, especially the shanks.

Antibiotics do not stop a virus

The FAO guide says it plainly: there is no treatment for avian influenza. Antibiotics kill bacteria, not viruses, so adding them to the drinking water when deaths rise does not stop the disease. It only delays the call to the veterinarian by days in which the virus spreads to neighbouring houses and nearby farms. The guide adds an important practical rule: suspect avian influenza in any outbreak that persists despite the usual preventive and treatment measures for other diseases. As for vaccination, WOAH says it may be recommended under specific conditions but is not a sustainable solution on its own, and the FAO guide stresses that the decision to use vaccine rests with each country’s central veterinary services.

Biosecurity: keep the virus out before it arrives

WOAH says the virus is shed in birds’ droppings and respiratory secretions, spreads especially through contaminated droppings, feed and water, and is carried on boots, vehicles and equipment from farm to farm. That is where the following measures come from, and they apply to commercial farms and backyard chickens alike:

• Separate your birds from wild birds and their droppings: netting, fencing or barriers, as FAO recommends. For backyard flocks the FAO guide suggests closed housing at night and a fenced run by day, and do not let ducks roam ponds and fields where wild birds land.
• Protect feed and water: since contaminated feed and water are a route of spread, give your birds feed and clean water yourself rather than letting them roam in search of food, as the FAO guide advises, and keep them away from ponds where wild-bird droppings may fall.
• Control entry: WOAH recommends strict control over access by vehicles, people and equipment. Keep visitors away from where the birds live, leave their cars and motorbikes at the gate, and do not let live-bird traders into the farm.
• Footwear and clothing: change your clothes when you come back from outside, especially from another farm, and wash, scrub and disinfect footwear at the gate, or keep footwear that never leaves the farm, as the FAO guide advises.
• Equipment: clean and disinfect equipment and housing, and do not lend your equipment or egg trays to others, or borrow theirs.
• New birds: WOAH warns against introducing birds of unknown health status. The FAO guide advises isolating any purchased birds for at least two weeks away from the flock, and if outbreaks are announced in your area, not introducing new birds at all. Do not return unsold birds from the market to the flock; if you must, keep them apart.
• If you hunt waterfowl: FAO warns that they may carry the virus, so do not go near your poultry in your hunting clothes, boots or vehicle, and do not feed wild-bird scraps to poultry or pets.

If you suspect it: the first hours make the difference

The FAO guide says the farmer and the veterinarian must act before laboratory results arrive, because waiting lets the situation slip out of control. These are the steps:

1. Report immediately: call your veterinarian and the official veterinary services in your area. WOAH recommends reporting every suspected case, dead or alive.
2. Do not sell, give away or move anything: not birds, not eggs, not manure, even if the birds look healthy, as the FAO guide stresses. A hurried sale to cut losses carries the virus to other people’s flocks and to people.
3. Do not eat sick or dead birds, and do not give them to anyone.
4. Put dead birds in bags straight away, and never throw them into a river, a canal or a field. Leave their disposal to the veterinary services, which may take samples from them.
5. Isolate sick birds in a closed space where they cannot mix with others, stop visits, and do not visit other farms.
6. Write down what is happening: the date deaths began, the number of dead each day, the signs, and the source of the last birds you brought in. This information helps the veterinarian trace the source of infection.

A farmer may hesitate to report for fear of culling, and culling infected and in-contact birds is indeed the usual measure, according to WOAH. But the FAO guide points out that early reporting protects your family from infection, lets you restock sooner and protects your neighbours’ farms, and in some countries it may make you eligible for state compensation for your losses. Hiding the outbreak only makes it last longer and spread further.

Protect yourself and your family

WOAH says that transmission of avian influenza from birds to humans is sporadic and happens in specific circumstances, and that those most at risk are people in close and repeated contact with infected birds or heavily contaminated environments. It adds that there is no evidence that eating poultry meat or eggs transmits the virus to humans, and FAO advises eating only well-cooked meat and never eating birds found sick or dead. If you have to handle sick or dead birds, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the following personal protective equipment:

• Snug-fitting safety goggles, and disposable gloves.
• An N95 respirator if available, otherwise a well-fitting surgical mask.
• Rubber boots that can be disinfected, or boot covers; disposable fluid-resistant coveralls; and a head cover.
• Do not eat, drink or smoke while wearing it, do not touch your eyes, mouth or nose, do not wear used protective gear into your home, wash your hands with soap and water after taking it off, then shower straight away.

On farms that are not infected, the FAO guide also advises that a single healthy adult should look after the birds, and that pregnant women and young children should avoid contact with them.