Four breeders have been affected by bird flu in Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier, where around 90,000 turkeys have been euthanized.
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The source of the contamination is currently unknown.
“Is it the winds, the flies, the insects? We’re watching avian flu spread from site to site, but we definitely don’t question the work breeders are doing with their biosecurity measures because we know they take them very seriously,” said the president of Quebec’s Poultry Breeders , Pierre-Luc Leblanc.
Significant economic losses
This situation is of great concern to poultry farmers who have to start their production from scratch while a shortage of poultry hits the industry. The latter are becoming rarer as bird flu affects other farms in other parts of North America.
“There are several hatcheries not only in Quebec but also in the United States, Ontario and western Canada that are affected. People want to start production again. So, want, don’t want, it creates some shortage of chicks,” Mr Leblanc said.
This contamination is also affecting breeders in the region whose birds have not been infected as several sites in the region have been banned from restocking.
“I haven’t had a bird on my side for over a month. I’m not stressed at the breeding level, but it’s more stressed at the financial level because the payments are made in the same way, but we don’t know when we’ll have income,” reported a producer of chickens from Saint-Gabriel-de-Valcartier , Luce Belanger.
Experts agree that turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas could be harder to get this year, in addition to the higher cost.