From UC Davis News Service:

UC Davis experts are urging backyard chicken enthusiasts and commercial poultry owners to practice strong biosecurity measures to prevent contact with wild birds, due to highly pathogenic strains of avian influenza recently detected in migratory waterfowl in British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and Butte County, California.

The current detected strains, H5N2 and H5N8, are not a risk to human health and have not been found in commercial poultry in the United States. However, commercial poultry flocks in British Columbia and backyard flocks in Washington and Oregon have been affected.

Avian influenza -- commonly called "bird flu" -- is a disease found in a wide variety of domesticated and wild birds. Once introduced into an area, infection can spread through bird-to-bird contact or through contact with contaminated clothing, shoes, hands, feed, water or equipment. Because waterfowl are reservoirs for avian influenza strains that can be fatal to domestic poultry (yet often show little to no signs in waterfowl), backyard and commercial chickens raised near areas commonly used by migrating waterfowl are at risk of transmission.

"Due to normal waterfowl migration along the Pacific Flyway, during the winter there are approximately eight times the number of waterfowl in California than what we will see three months from now,"
said Maurice Pitesky, a poultry specialist with the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. "There are lots of birds that winter and establish roosting and feeding habitat in California wetlands and agricultural crops. If you are a poultry owner -- either backyard or commercial -- and live in proximity to waterfowl and their habitat, your birds are at risk."

Owners of backyard chickens who observe illness or increased mortality in their birds should call their veterinarian or the California Department of Food Agriculture sick bird hotline at (866) 922-2473.

The California Animal Health and Food Safety Laboratory System includes four diagnostic labs in Davis, Turlock, Tulare and San Bernardino. The labs encourage veterinarians and owners of backyard chickens to submit sick or recently dead birds for necropsy (postmortem) examination. The exam is free of charge for California backyard flock owners of fewer than 1,000 birds (chicken, turkey, waterfowl and squabs). For more information, contact (530) 752-8700 or visit UC Davis Veterinary Medicine.

Reduce the risk of bird flu

To reduce the risk of avian influenza transmission, chickens should be kept separate from wild birds and monitored for signs of illness or increased mortality. The CDFA also urges owners to take the following necessary and crucial precautions:

* If you have a pond or body of water that can attract waterfowl to or near your facility, consider draining if feasible.
* Provide housing to confine domestic poultry and/or enclose an exercise area with netting.
* Avoid use of water that comes from sources where waterfowl may congregate during migration.
* Ideally, owners of poultry should try to avoid waterfowl hunting during migration. Otherwise, ensure clothing, footwear, vehicles, etc. used during hunts are laundered and/or disinfected.
* Permit only essential workers and vehicles on premises and provide disposable coveralls, boots and head coverings for visitors.
* Clean and disinfect vehicles and equipment entering or leaving the premises.
* Control movement associated with the disposal of mortality, litter and manure.

Additional resources

Information on good biosecurity and hygiene precautions to keep backyard flocks healthy can be found at:

* UC Cooperative Extension: Backyard Poultry Resources
* USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
* California Department of Food and Agriculture Avian Health Program

Reports of dead, wild birds can be directed to the Wildlife Investigations Lab at (916) 358-2790. There is also a on-line application for submission.

Rains from early December in California, which some are describing as falling in "biblical" proportions, will bring welcome relief from the historic drought, reported the Olive Oil Times.

"The storm will partially replenish water supplies, but there is still a long way to go," commented Dan Flynn of the UC Davis Olive Center.

The lack of rainfall the last few years has left many olive farms with low soil moisture, stressing the trees, said Paul Vossen, UC Cooperative Extension Specialty Crops Farm Advisor for Sonoma and Marin counties.

"Part of that stress influenced the crop load, which was lower than normal, and it also advanced the ripening of fruit," Vossen said. "This autumn harvest was at least two to three weeks early and was finished by Thanksgiving."

The story said the California drought cut U.S. olive oil production by 25 percent.

“The rainfall we are receiving right now is welcome for refilling the soil profiles, so that the olive trees can start off next spring with good growth,” Vossen said. “It is also a relief to see enough rain to start to see a replenishment of our reservoirs, so that irrigation water will once again be plentiful for next summer's needs. Even though we may get some temporary flooding, all in all, this rainfall is a welcome thing.”

UCCE Sonoma Specialty Crops Advisor, Paul Vossen, recently published Monitoring & Control of Olive Fruit Fly (OLF) for Oil Production in California in CAPCA Adviser, December edition.

This article culminates more than five years of research and observation on the control of Olive Fruit Fly (OLF) and outlines the techniques for growers to follow to achieve adequate control and to produce high quality (defect free) olive oil in the face of this new pest.  

The biology of the insect is covered so that producers can better understand what conditions favor it. Unfortunately, OLF has the ability to multiply very rapidly, devastating the crop, and rendering it un-harvestable. Reported research shows how monitoring adult fly numbers with traps can be deceiving and that looking at the actual damage to fruit (insect stings) is a much more accurate measure of potential damage at harvest. Next, the article evaluates the effectiveness of the main control measures with mass trapping and different spray materials.  It also discusses the level and type of fruit damage (threshold) that begins to affect oil flavor, basically indicating the advantages of early harvest. 

Olive Fruit Fly larvae

From all of us to all of you! We wish you and yours a
wonderful holiday season and a prosperous New Year.