As two chicken farms in the Hawkesbury come to terms with the destruction of their entire bird population, authorities widen their search area for other cases of avian flu. Meanwhile, a young family of egg farmers are afraid to count their chickens before they die.
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00:00Matt and Monique Bonas have been raising chickens for three years.
00:09Their farm has now been declared part of the avian flu biosecurity zone.
00:13We are intimidated.
00:14We're thinking at any moment that we could test positive.
00:17We're constantly watching their behavior.
00:20The virus has been detected at two chicken farms less than two kilometers apart.
00:26Both farms and two more have been locked down.
00:29Matt and Monique's property is in the control emergency zone.
00:32A positive test could spell the end of their business.
00:35I don't know if we were able to come back from that.
00:37It would be emotionally very, very heavy for us and for the kids.
00:42It's the way we farm.
00:44It's a high risk.
00:45We have wild ducks and wild fowl that can mingle quite easily.
00:50We do think that this has been as a result of wild birds and they do carry variants of
00:56avian influenza.
00:58Matt Bonas says they're yet to receive a call from authorities.
01:02It's a wonder they haven't come and done a test because we're waiting just to see signs
01:05of birds and once we see that, a sign of it, that's probably already too late.
01:09Work to euthanize 330,000 birds at the two infected farms is underway.
01:15It's quite a big piece of work, a very difficult piece of work.
01:19The strain infecting these birds is different from the one in Victoria and different again
01:24from a strain that's caused deaths in humans overseas.
01:28It's not dangerous in terms of human consumption.
01:31Obviously, poultry has to be prepared correctly, but that's the case at any time.
01:36There are no eggs or chickens in or out of the two infected farms here at the Hawkesbury.
01:42But despite the lockdown, authorities say there is minimal impact on egg supply.
01:47There is still over 20 million egg-laying chickens in the industry and they're continuing
01:52to supply eggs on a steady basis.
01:56A reassurance for consumers, but of little comfort to farmers with their livelihoods
02:01at stake.