A cross-sectional survey of influenza A infection, and management practices in small rural backyard poultry flocks in two regions of New Zealand

Figures & data

Figure 1. Location of 54 farms (

) in (a) the Bay of Plenty, and (b) Wairarapa, including 24 involved in a cross-sectional study (

), for the presence of avian influenza virus, in relation to lakes and estuary. The radius circles indicate 5, 10 and 15 km away from the edge of a lake or a river mouth.

Table 1. Different species and numbers of domestic birds reported on 54 farms in the Bay of Plenty (BoP) and Wairarapa (W'pa), New Zealand, by respondents to a survey of owners of backyard poultry flocks.

Birds kept	BoP	W'pa	All farms^a	% of Total	Bird populations^b
					Median	Range
Chickens	29	25	54	100	12	3–45
Ducks (Anas platyrhynchos), (Cairina moschata) or (Anas peking)	3	4	7	13	7	1–45
Guineafowl (Numida meleagris)	3	2	5(2)	9	4	4–18
Turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo)	3	1	4(2)	7	2	1–30
Pheasants (Phasianus colchicus)	2	1	3(1)	6	8	2–9
Geese (Anser cygnoides)	2	0	2(1)	4	1.5	1–2
Partridges (Alectoris rufa)	1	0	1	2	4	4
Pigeons (Columba livia domestica)	1	0	1	2	4	4
Peacocks (Pavo cristatus)	0	1	1(1)	2	3	3
Doves (Streptopelia chinensis)	1	0	1	2	7	7
Other	2	1	3(1)	6	10	7–10
^a The number in brackets denotes the number of farms that kept ducks as well as the other domestic bird specified	^b Number of birds per farm

Table 2. Housing of backyard poultry on farms in the Bay of Plenty and Wairarapa, New Zealand, and the species of wild birds reported in areas where domestic poultry were kept.

Parameter	Bay of Plenty	Wairarapa
Farms surveyed	29	25
Housing of chickens^a
Shed or coup	2	1
In a run	8	6
Free range over property	18	14
Free range, having access to waterways	0	4
Wild bird species reported
Duck (Anas platyrhynchos), teal (Anas chlorotis), swan (Cygnus atratus), shag (Phalocrocorax carbo)	9	8
Seagull (Larus novaehollandiae scopulinus), tern (Sterna albostriata), godwit (Limosa lapponica)	4	1
Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus), turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), quail (Coturnix novaezealandiae)	11	2
Sparrow (Passer domesticus), starling (Sturnus vulgaris), thrush (Turdus merula)	23	21
Pukeko (Porphyrio porphyrio)	13	5
Hawk (Circus approximans)	9	3
Other birds^b	3	6
^a This question was not completed for one farm in the Bay of Plenty	^b These included, but were not limited to: magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen), tui (Prosthermadera novaeseelandiae), yellowhammer (Emberiza citronella), cockatoo (Cacatua galerita), rosella (Platycercus eximius), fantail (Rhipidura fulginosa), finch (Fringilla coelebs), and kereru (native wood pigeon) (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae)

Table 3. Number of samples that tested positive for avian influenza virus antibodies of all samples collected and tested from 6/24 farms, with multiple species of birds, including chickens, ducks, geese (Anser cygnoides), turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) and guineafowl (Numida meleagris), in the Bay of Plenty (BP) and Wairarapa (SW), New Zealand, September–November 2006.

Farm	Chickens	Ducks	Geese	Turkeys	Guineafowl
BP01	0/11	0/5^a	0	0	0
BP08	2/6	0/2^b	0	0	0
BP11	0/12	0	0/2	0/2	0
SW06	1/15	14/36^c	0	0	0/3
SW08	0/22	1/2^b	0	0	0/1
SW11	0/9	1/9^d	0	0	0
^a Muscovy ducks (Cairina moschata)	^b Domesticated mallards (Anas platyrhynchos)	^c Thirty-five domesticated mallards and one Peking duck (Anas peking)	^d Five domesticated mallards, two Peking ducks, and two Muscovy ducks