An outbreak of bird flu is one of every poultry farmer’s worst nightmares. Especially in the winter months from October to March, farmers often look anxiously outside to see if there are no migratory birds nearby. The greatest danger comes from wild ducks and geese, which can spread the virus through their feces. Moreover, the danger has increased in recent years as many farmers have switched to a free outlet for their chickens and turkeys.
In front of Wageningen Bioveterinary Research from Lelystad (WBVR) – part of Wageningen University – was the reason to start a test with lasers. Previous research had shown that lasers can help deter wild birds from airports and landfills. Why not at poultry farms?
Laser and eight cameras
The fairly simple procedure turns out to be very effective. For the study in the winter of 2019-2020, WBVR installed a laser on a 6-meter-high mast in the run-out area of the laying hens of a company that has already been hit by bird flu several times.
During the evening and night – when the chickens were inside – only the 1.5 acre outdoor area was illuminated. Part of the surrounding grassland was also illuminated between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. The site was monitored with eight cameras. Laser was done for a month, but not for a month.
According to Armin Elbers, who works as an epidemiologist at WBVR, and project leader of the study, several mallards (except one) visited the range between sunset and sunrise on all days studied without using the laser.
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“They are then looking for food in the range and swim in puddles of water that are formed during the winter period by abundant rainfall. Ducks can defecate while swimming in the puddles. And that same water is drunk by chickens in the outdoor area during the day, we could see on the video camera images. ”
Not a bird to be seen
Using the laser, wild duck visits to the range were almost completely prevented (99.7%). In addition, the visit of other wild birds to the range between sunrise and 10:00 AM was very strongly (> 96%) limited by the use of the laser.
Elbers: “Without using the laser, large numbers of geese were present in the surrounding meadows during the day. During the day, the surrounding meadows were ‘swept clean’ with the laser, and geese were no longer present in the illuminated area. The poultry farmer indicated that the feeding damage by geese in the meadows had become negligible. “
Licensing policy
With these results in hand, Elbers expects that lasers will be used much more often in poultry farms in the future. They will then need a permit from the province. This is stated in the Nature Conservation Act.
Steinar Henskes, founder of the Bird Control Group – the manufacturer of the laser used in the trial – naturally hopes that this will not pose any impediments to his product. “This research provides interesting insights for new uses of our AVIX Autonomic laser systems. I advise companies that are interested to consult the Bij12 Prevention Kits. BIJ12 is the implementing body for prevention of wildlife damage on behalf of the provinces. ”
The research by Elbers and WBVR is part of the 1Health4Food-project Fight Flu. In addition to Wageningen University, the poultry sector, the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality and Animal Protection are involved.
You can find other articles on agriculture and conservation here.
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