This project seeks to serve the estimated 40,000 to 50,000 smallholder poultry owners across British Columbia. We recognize that these flocks are managed independently by individuals that could range from young 4-H members to seniors who share in the care of a community flock. We feel it is very important to understand the diversity of the small flock sector, and also the limited resources available to them around poultry health and welfare. This challenge, confounded by differing levels of interest in this community, and the diversity of representation, is likely one of the most challenging agricultural groups to unite and we are hoping to provide a mechanism to do so.
In our work, we hope to tackle these challenges and address the knowledge gap that impacts poultry welfare, economic viability and sustainability. We want to offer a comprehensive approach to developing an extension and education program for small flock poultry owners delivered by sector leaders in collaboration with our representative associations across the province, with an established and well recognized ability to bring this group together and unite them with a common and shared interest in improving poultry health. We want to be sure we recognize our small flock partner organizations supporting this program:
- The Fraser Valley Poultry Fanciers Association
- The Vernon Pigeon and Poultry Club
- The Cowichan Feather Fanciers
- The Salt Spring Island Poultry Club
- Fowl Creatures 4-H Poultry Club
The recent and ongoing outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) has caused significant impacts across the poultry sector, including small flocks. Small flocks have most certainly proven equally susceptible to disease as their commercial counterparts and have often acted as sentinels to the presence of disease in geographic locations where the disease had not previously been detected.
This program seeks to support and unite the small flock community with a secondary effect of hopefully reducing the impacts of disease detections on neighbours and sector partners. The dedicated outreach provided by this project will also generate the added benefit of garnering trust and facilitating an emergency communications network that can provide timely and relevant disease outbreak information to small flock owners if they wish to be part of it.
We sincerely thank the Fraser Valley Poultry Fanciers Association for their willingness to deliver this project, and we gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
