One of the challenges in life is to separate the wheat from the chaff or, in common parlance, fact from BS or crazy unsubstantiated claims. Remember the AIDS epidemic when we weren’t sure exactly how it was transmitted and mass fear led to the promotion of a number of ‘cures’ that, ultimately, didn’t work? Or the beginning of the Covid pandemic when the science world was scrambling to figure it out? One of the claims was that Ivermectin, an inexpensive anti-parasitic drug that’s been used to treat both animals and people from intestinal worms and biting parasites since the 1980s, could cure Covid. Again, that hasn’t borne out to be true.
When I was a kid there was a decent amount of respect for scientists and doctors who went through many years of training. Public confidence and trust in those institutions has been eroded only to be replaced by the opinions of the Average Joe who feels qualified to weigh in on any number of topics as though they were fully qualified. It’s one thing to have your own opinions, it’s another to act like they are fact and promote them as the ‘gospel’ for other folks to consume and pass along.
Almost four years ago, I connected with Dr Vicki Bowes, a DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine) with a Masters degree in Avian Pathology. She’s worked as a pathologist for almost 35 years. I’ve been fortunate that she has become my mentor and I have spent literally dozens of hours at her side poring over avian pathology cases that I have presented for her opinion. The result of our get-togethers, which she calls ‘Show And Tell’ or ‘Gorefest’ has resulted in my Avian Pathology series of over 60 posts (400+ cases), as well as Tailgate Necropsy and Myth Busters: Refuting Online Chicken Advice.
I can’t count the number of times she has sighed, grumbled and even sworn as she’s read some of the stuff that is posted in Facebook chicken groups. We both understand that folks may not have access to a vet with avian training or even the funds to pay for treatment, but way too many people are operating outside their lane when it comes to diagnosing chicken issues and prescribing a course of treatment. When I read some of that clearly erroneous advice I feel for the person who is posting looking for help. Often those suggestions will do no good and, sometimes, will actually cause more harm.
Dr Bowes works in an area of our province (British Columbia) that is the home of 79% of commercial chicken farms, producing millions of birds annually. She is well versed in various iterations of avian flu and is considered an expert in the field. Dr Bowes’ passion is dealing with small flocks and has worked diligently to educate backyard chicken keepers to protect their birds from various pathogens, including avian flu.
In our conversations she occasionally questions the knowledge levels of members of online chicken group that feel free to offer their clearly uneducated and unsubstantiated opinions. I know it frustrates her so she sometimes leaves the job of pushing back against the anti-science folks to me. I acknowledge that I don’t know everything, but I have a fair amount of experience in having kept chickens for 15 years and spending thousands of hours reading and writing about them. I also have had the privilege of asking Dr Bowes for her opinion, experience and guidance so that I am a better educator for other small flock keepers.
Recently, I was scrolling through a Facebook chicken group with a following of over 75,000 members and came across this post:
“I have had chickens for over ten years and every year we have the Avian Flu scare and people freak out. This year they are talking about it being transmitted to cats and dogs and I don’t remember this being an issue. Does anyone else? What extra precautions are you taking? I have barn cats that take care of mice and they do catch wild birds.” – Deb Jenkins
This seems like a reasonable question, right? I was appalled that the vast majority of responses offered no real help and actually downplayed the threat or dismissed it outright. I found this echoed in other chicken groups, some with followings of several hundred thousand. Again and again, people repeated the same mantras that are not based in science (i.e. reality).
Here are some of those responses (all names withheld):
“I don’t take any precautions. My birds still free range as they please. I feel like a lot of things the government and CDC says are scare tactics. I’m not saying don’t do what you think is best for you and your animals, I’m just saying I don’t buy into everything I’m told.”
“They are taking things that make us self sufficient (eggs) and what brings us joy (pets) and twisting it and using them all against us for their benefit of us relying on them (grocery stores and pharmaceuticals).”
“It’s sad really what the government, CDC and Big Pharma do to our people.”
“They want control and fear is the best way to do it. If the ‘alphabet’ agencies say do something, best to do the opposite. I’m even starting to question whether cigarettes are actually bad for us.” (Bitchin’ Chickens: “Seriously,? Even Big Tobacco has admitted, under duress, that their products will kill 50% of their customers!”)
“The only extra precaution you need is to turn off your idiot box. If chickens had an issue you’d hear about it through your chicken network of all the people in your regions with chickens, not the news AKA the fear based control propaganda machine”
“Honestly, after Covid, I don’t give one flying fluff about pandemics. Unless it’s airborne ebola and people are hemorrhaging out their eyeballs in the street, I simply don’t care. I have chickens, cats and horses and my concern about avian flu is at 0%.”
“Most all of these so-called outbreaks are in commercial chicken houses. It’s giving them an excuse to slaughter thousands of birds because if they can control our food they control us.”
“Don’t believe everything you hear. Just because it is said to be happening doesn’t mean it is.”
“Fear porn.”
“I find it odd that avian flu has only existed in my lifetime, yet birds have been around since the beginning.”
One brave poster responded with this and, predictably, did not receive much support:
“I am surprised that chicken owners want to politicize keeping their chickens safe. Sad thing is not only does it put their chickens in danger it also puts other flocks in danger from the spread of the disease. Gossip over science.”
Sometimes I just have to give my head a shake and remove myself from the toxic environment of dismissing science and the institutions that are built on information that might help us. I am not saying that we can’t question or challenge things, but we need to at least have the fundamentals to be able to ascertain what is factual or not. Science is not static, it’s evolving to incorporate new data and that’s why sometimes the messaging or theories change. It doesn’t mean we were lied to, just that new information has come to light.
This is not a post about the existence or severity of Avian Flu, but about how we learn, who are our sources of information and how we separate the BS from the facts.
When I was in university I quickly learned that a ho-hum prof who knew their stuff but wasn’t a great teacher was a waste of my time. Luckily, in my second year, I found a gem of an instructor and stuck with her for three or four courses as well as had her supervise my thesis. I still think of that prof and remember loads of things she taught me. Dr Kettel tried to inspire her students to question, be curious, to engage and challenge so they could be better students and citizens, regardless of whether we ever worked in her field or not.
I’m dismayed when online groups prohibit conversations about culling birds due to illness or injury (the word ‘euthanasia’ comes from the Greek, meaning ‘good death’), but allow all kinds of misinformation to be perpetuated without any kind of counterbalancing comments. How are folks supposed to know what is true or not?
“There is so much bad advice (in chicken groups). People guessing at the problem, then guessing at a solution to the incorrectly guessed problem, then people adding suggested adjustments to the wrong treatment for the wrong problem. If you don’t know, don’t comment! All you’re doing is confusing the readers and, in many cases, offering dangerous advice that may well hurt or kill the chicken.” (name withheld)
I’m an Health Promotion Educator by trade, having done hundreds of workshops over the last 25 years. Often I am the most knowledgeable person in the room in my particular field, which is to be expected, given that I am the speaker. That doesn’t mean I never learn something new or am asked a question I don’t know the answer to. I don’t want to drone on to an audience as a know-it-all, but prefer to have a dialogue between us so that we both leave that experience recharged. That’s the stuff that keeps me going.
And that’s why I am dismayed that so many folks seem to take pride in dismissing any ideas that might challenge their own sense of comfort and security in their ‘rightness’. Sometimes questioning what you have believed to be true and learning something new is uncomfortable. It’s a sign that you are open and willing to accept someone else might be more informed about a particular subject than you are.
Knowledge and education should be things that we all aspire to achieve in order to become better versions of ourselves and to uplift our communities. As someone who blogs in order to educate other small flock keepers my aim is to improve your knowledge and the care you can provide your flocks. I’ve posted close to 800 articles and numerous posts online. Have I ever been challenged? You bet. Sometimes gently and other times, not so much. But I have embraced each of those interactions as opportunities for me to learn something new and to use that going forward. I know that I still have so much to learn and look forward to doing so.
Featured photo credit: Angela Hodges Lloyd
Bitchin' Chickens 
Thanks for being a bright light. The dark just got darker for your neighbors to the south as far as keeping up with truth & science:
https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/public-health/communications-paused-us-health-agencies
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I too, have been frustrated by the echo chambers that seem to form in some of the groups. I feel badly about it, but most times I just don’t respond to the posts about avian influenza anymore. Usually folks have already bought whatever theory they have and are unwilling to hear reason or science. Not long ago I read a response to someone about the topic that said “drones from China were dropping avian flu virus on farms while we slept”!! Politicizing and conspiracy theories only seek to divide us and ultimately put more birds at risk. I couldn’t even begin to try to argue with that post as it would likely change no one’s mind and be like banging my head against a brick wall.
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