With 8.7m birds dead, B.C. farmers assess avian flu toll, and worry about what’s next

VANCOUVER – There is a window of relief for British Columbia farmers from the devastating waves of avian flu, leaving them to assess the toll of outbreaks spanning more than three years that saw millions of birds culled at hundreds of farms.

Farmers and scientists also worry what the next migration of wild birds will bring this year.

Some farmers moved their operations outside British Columbia’s Fraser Valley or have exited the industry altogether since the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu began circulating, said farmer Ray Nickel.

Nickel, who operates a farm in Abbotsford in the Fraser Valley, was forced to cull 60,000 chickens in the fall of 2022 due to avian flu. He said his flock of about 9,000 turkeys on another farm were also euthanized in 2023.