Backyard chickens are equally susceptible to bird flu as commercial flocks

Though commercial chickens are of bigger concern, backyard chicken owners should practice the same biosecurity techniques to protect the birds, according to Extension Veterinarian Lew Strickland of the University Of Tennessee College Of Veterinary Medicine

Since wild birds are the main carriers of the disease, free-range chickens and backyard flocks that are outside for an unregulated amount of time, can easily become infected with the highly pathogenic avian influenza.

The Happy Chicken Coop said that backyard flocks are genetically no different from commercial chickens. Disease may spread faster in broiler houses because the birds are closer together, but illnesses. . .