Your neighbour's backyard chickens could kill you

When owners of backyard chickens hand over a dozen freshly laid eggs to their next-door neighbour, it spreads good cheer for both parties.

But it’s not an exaggeration to say this gift has the potential to spread something a lot less cheerful, such as death.

Our lovely, clucking balls of feathers could be potential biohazards, according to Paul De Barro, research director for Health and Biosecurity at the CSIRO.

They have the ability to spread zoonotic diseases and there would be little the government could do to contain it, he warned the ABC.

Zoonotic diseases – including the well-known ebola – originate in wild animals, move into domestic animals and then spread to humans, and incidences of these are on the rise.

Scientists are still unsure what exact conditions are needed for such transfers to occur.

In Australia, we are also lacking information on exactly what diseases our wild animals are carrying and which ones are building up in certain areas and could become potentially dangerous to humans.

One example of such a deadly disease transfer is the Hendra virus. Originating in fruit bats, it quickly decimated horses and finally took the lives of four people. And it’s not the only virus bats are thought to spread, leading to increased interest and scientific research.

While outbreaks of zoonotic diseases in Australia have so far been minimal, they have been more common in south-east Asia where high-density populations live in close proximity to wild and domesticated animals.

Outbreaks of SARS and Avian flu have so far been deflected from our borders but risks remain given continued growth in international travel and trade.

Closer to home, as our suburbs expand to meet the bush, domestic and wild animals can come into contact.

Fruit bats in particular are becoming much more urbanised and could come into contact with backyard chickens now owned by many Australians, while climate change is also moving wild animals closer to urban areas.

Backyard chicken owners generally do not have to register the fact that they own chickens with their council, as long as they own less than the designated number for their municipality.

This means that should an outbreak of something deadly occur, no one would have any idea where to start looking to try to control it.

To minimise the risk of disease outbreaks, owners are being urged to wash their hands carefully.

This may seem fairly obvious, but it can be overlooked – especially by children, who are world-class germ-spreaders.

Good bird care and coop hygiene and wearing protective clothes can also help.

As a proud chook owner myself, I appreciate the level of responsibility involved.

Similar to hobby beekeeping, which is seeing a surge in popularity and requires hive owners to register, chicken lovers should also have to join a database with the Department of Primary Industries.

That would at least give biosecurity officers a chance at containment.

Some states in the US now require registration and education among chook owners.

Although I already own several books on chicken husbandry, I would happily register my flock and also complete basic DPI training which could be mandated for all new owners, even requiring a simple annual refresher test.

At a government level, more funding needs to be given to scientific research into identifying and monitoring wildlife diseases. To not do so is to significantly risk public health.

By all means own chickens, they’re a lovely addition to the backyard.

But we also need to be responsible for the health of our neighbours, or we may just find ourselves with egg on our face.