In 2020, the supply chain experienced disruptions that no one in my generation had ever seen. It became even more apparent to those who believe in the power of self-reliance that it is up to us to take care of ourselves. Backyard farming began booming, along with an increased interest in raising chickens.
Since then, efforts to balance self-sustainable lifestyles have been threatened. Government interference in normal healthy practices continues to grow amid concerns over “public safety.”
During the pandemic, my family added fruit trees to our already-growing vegetable garden and discussed getting chickens. It offered a sense of peace in a time of unprecedented government overreach.
The years to come offered plenty of related concerns. In 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) unveiled its “People’s Garden Initiative.” This encouraged Americans to register their backyard, school, and community gardens and is still being presented as a beneficial collaboration.
But if you read the full breakdown, it advances “equity” and other “DEI” and Green New Deal initiatives that reek of a government takeover. I, like many other Americans who value their freedoms, have not registered my garden because my food belongs to me and is no one else’s business.
Now as avian flu is making headlines, fears that “they’re coming for your chickens” are being realized.
Although the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) admits that “the current public health risk is low,” it also posted that more than 90 million detections have been found in wild birds and backyard and commercial flocks across 48 states.
Yet, in the fine print, they note that this number was compiled over a two-year period and offer no information on how the testing was administered, how deadly the virus is, or how many birds have recovered.
So once again, the numbers are being stacked to breed fear. Why?
A Need for Poultry
In 2022, Iowa State University cited the rising cost of eggs as one of the determining factors that increased interest in raising backyard chickens. By 2023, The New York Times was calling these flocks “inflation chickens.”
Bidenflation has continued to drive up the cost of all necessities to the point that backyard chicken farming has become essential for some families. Like mine.
My husband and I finally ventured to start our own flock this spring. We have five kids, and ensuring that they have clean, healthy protein is a must. We’ve worked tirelessly to properly care for our birds, and they have become an extremely rewarding addition to our family.
Just having the prospect of free eggs releases the pressure. We have hope. We’re looking forward to the future without fear or frustration.
I have plenty of experience having worked as a bird specialist and veterinary assistant in the past. But our peace of mind is slowly being chipped away as headline after headline screams about bird flu.
The Big, Bad Bird Scare
We should all be suspicious of why the big, bad bird scare keeps getting pushed.
While constant death-toll counters were used to scare people about Covid, despite the fact that Covid was never as deadly as predicted and mostly affected senior citizens who are usually at risk for all illnesses, there have only been two cases of avian flu reported in the U.S., with no fatalities.
Two. Total. Out of hundreds of millions of people. Still there is a push for more testing, and even the development of two vaccines in the works — for an illness that has done virtually nothing.
The situation is laughable. CBS recently reported that dozens of dairy farm workers were being monitored to see if they maybe, possibly, could sort of develop some kind of symptoms after being allegedly exposed to the virus, yet no one has reported any symptoms.
It’s as if the corporate media and their string pullers are hoping for another pandemic. A poultry pandemic.
Chicken Tyranny
In the United Kingdom, they’ve already implemented a bird registry. Poultry papers, please.
This new rule requires anyone with 50 chickens or more to register their birds. As crazy as this may seem to most Americans, it’s already happening in some areas of the U.S.
The state of Maryland requires residents to register their poultry. Why? For the sake of safety, of course. In case of “disease.” No need to allow poultry owners and their veterinarians to monitor that.
In Wisconsin there is no chicken registry, just a requirement that anyone who owns them register their land.
Premises registration was developed in that state back in 2003. This is required for even backyard chicken flocks and hobby farms. So while chicken registries aren’t the norm for Americans, they do exist, and the recent fearmongering regarding avian flu is likely to expand the passage of other similar policies.
Ulterior Motives
In addition, the latest bird flu scare happens to coincide with climate alarmists’ movement to prevent people from eating meat.
The globalist oligarchy, the World Economic Forum, claims that eating “lots of meat” is bad for the environment, and Bloomberg noted that the 2023 Paris climate agreement is slated to curb our “excessive appetite for meat.”
Although the narrative surrounding meat consumption focuses on the human carbon footprint, very few outlets are willing to report on the catastrophic effects of malnourishment, often developed due to a lack of meat consumption.
According to Saint Luke’s, a 2022 review of meatless diets published in the medical journal Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases found that veganism can lead to a bevy of deficiencies in vitamin B12, omega-3, calcium, zinc, iron, magnesium, and high-quality protein.
The report also concluded that these issues lead to cancer, stroke, bone fractures, preterm birth, hair loss, weak bones, muscle wasting, skin rashes, hypothyroidism, and anemia as well as an increased potential for depression and anxiety.
These kinds of deficiencies in vegans and also vegetarians have been recorded for years.
Yet the “war on meat” continues in the corporate media without differentiating between factory farm meat and meat obtained from family farmers or backyard chickens.
The Truth
The latest attack on our chickens is based on the American media’s obsession with half-truths.
Vox just put out a piece claiming that the latest avian flu outbreak is “the worst bird flu outbreak in US history,” yet their source, the USDA, notes that out of the 378.5 million chickens in the United States, 2.73 million have supposedly been exposed.
That’s not even 1 percent of chickens, and the numbers are highly questionable being that the USDA also claims (as of writing this article) that only eight commercial flocks and eight backyard flocks have tested positive for bird flu.
I don’t know how millions of chickens across the nation have been exposed when only 16 flocks have tested positive. I would also like to know the status of those flocks.
Unfortunately, the infected birds were probably destroyed due to hysteria because it’s easier to worry about an illness than accept that we are mortal beings who can take care of ourselves without Mommy and Daddy Government telling us what to fear.
Our leaders know that. They weaponize our fear all the time. They used it against us in 2020, and they will continue using it against us until we rely on ourselves and refuse to accept their manipulation.
Self-reliance takes power away from those who seek control. That’s why they don’t want us facilitating our own food sources.
We witnessed just how many of our “leaders” only care about control in 2020, and the latest bird flu narrative cannot be used to repeat the mistakes of our past.
Jessica Marie Baumgartner is a homeschooling mother of five, co-op English teacher, and America First reporter for the Right Side Broadcasting Network and Mid Rivers Newsmagazine. Follow her on X: @jessmbaum
Comments are closed.