comment: >
  
  Part of this is because we depend on egg farms that have thousands of hens instead of forty. Small farms are almost non-existent these days.
  I've seen a lot of local interest in raising hens locally. Turns out you can have up to three hens in the city of Buffalo, NY, but no roosters.
context: Meanwhile, my family thinks Biden is pressing the "raise egg prices" button in the oval office. >
  
  I truly believe most of the older population in the US is experiencing late stage lead poisoning. >
  
  Honestly, this is the most reasonable explanation anyone has been able to come up with as to why an entire generation that once consisted of brilliant engineers and skilled laborers has suddenly turned their brains off and completely lost their critical thinking skills. >
  
  They are also just entering the later stages of their life, which causes cognitive decline, which is likely exasperated by but is not a direct result of lead poisoning. >
  
  Not to be exasperating, but I think you mean exacerbated. >
  
  Go easy on him, maybe his brain is old and full of lead! >
  
  Jeez, where did this strain of Bird Flu come from? >
  
  That's Avian Flu in general 
  What about this strain? >
  
  It’s H5N1 so Southeast Asia. It’s enzootic(endemic, but not people) in the local bird population. >
  
  ... just how many major disease strains originate in South-East Asia????? >
  
  It's where all the fun stuff comes from! >
  
  Relevant, edited from a previous comment:
  Perhaps the biggest risk of disease concerning livestock and poultry is influenza A - the only influenza virus known to cause pandemics.[9]  It is hypothesized that every influenza virus that causes pandemics in humans is derived from avian influenza in aquatic birds.[10]  Normally this wouldn't be an issue for us.  The infected wild birds usually don't get sick, and the virus doesn't easily spread amongst humans.[11]  But industrialized animal agriculture has changed that.  One scientific review writes:
  
  Hosts such as swine and gallinaceous poultry that are favorable for transmission and efficient replication of both zoonotic and human viruses can serve as mixing vessels and pose the greatest risk for the development of novel reassortments that can replicate competently in humans.[12]
  
  In other words, livestock and poultry are great at making it easier for viruses to spread amongst humans.  As to why this is, one author explains:
  
  ...virtually every effort to further industrialize broiler [chicken] biology has resulted in the emergence of new risks and vulnerabilities. Intensive confinement combined with increased genetic uniformity has created new opportunities for the spread of pathogens. Increased breast-meat yield has come at the expense of increased immunodeficiency.[13]
  
  It is likely that animal agriculture enabled the 1957 Asian Flu, 1968 Hong Kong Flu,[14] bird flu,[15] and the 2009 swine flu.[16]  Of these, bird flu is the cause for most concern.  In past outbreaks, the case-fatality (CF) rate was 60 percent, although one study suggests that if it became a larger pandemic, it would have a median CF rate of approximately 23.5 percent.[17]  It is thought that the 1918 Spanish Flu may have infected one-third of the global population and had a CF rate of 2.5 percent.[18]  If bird flu were to mutate in such a way that it was anywhere near as contagious as Spanish Flu, with a CF rate almost 10 times higher than Spanish Flu, the results would be apocalyptic.  As two authors wrote in a WHO publication:
  
  We can't scare people enough about H5N1 [bird flu].[19]
  
  References >
  
  I had swine flu in 2009 and it fucking sucked lmao >
  
  u/susinfluenza why'd you have to fuck this man up >
  
  …. The more chances to make a more complete zoonotic jump and spread between humans. Yay. >
  
  This is what keeps me up at night. >
  
  The Black Death would be quaint afterwards. >
  
  That’s it, I’m getting a chicken, screw the HOA >
  
  Got some bad news about the price of chicken feed...
  But you can try using it as a living, squawking compost pile too.  Sometimes they survive. >
  
  Chicken feed is still 50 cents a pound. I spend like $30 a month feeding my chickens and get 3-4 eggs a day. >
  
  I shall name my chicken Tina and feed her ham. Problem solved /s >
  
  They do, in fact, like ham. I’ve seen one of my girls have the audacity to take a ham bone from my pitty. My dog looked at me like “wtf?” >
  
  Chickens are tiny semi-domesticated dinosaurs. Land piranhas, in groups they can pick a carcass clean. Your poor pitty! >
  
  Oh for sure. I’ve seen my girls hunt mice and ground squirrels. 
  When I open their coop and they follow me around I may be guilty of pretending to be Chris Prat from Jurassic World. >
  
  This is the best thing I've read all week 😂 >
  
  Store here was selling store brand eggs for $4.50 a dozen. That's what I used to pay for the "nice" eggs. Even Aldi eggs were like $2.75. 
  Houston, we have a problem, and we're not doing anything about it. If this thing goes to humans, with the potential physical and immune system damage people have had from COVID/flu/etc, we're in for an interesting ride. >
  
  Paid $5.69 for a dozen today in northern Vermont. >
  
  It’s probably true for eggs. The US alone collectively eats some 8 billion eggs a year and are a staple for protein is just about every country. >
  
  i've taken my 12+ bird feeders down around my property so they aren't congregating in groups (still feed them, just scattering the feed)
  luckily my chickens are indoors for the winter and diverse enough (i have a few of every breed) that they're spread out pretty good in the coop/barns 
  while risk to song birds is low, and transmission to/from my chickens is therefore unlikely, i am still not fucking around
  i like my chickens, they actually make decent pets (not to mention the bug eating and the free eggs) >
  
  Can they get vaccinated for it? >
  
  left a message for my veterinarian re this - haven't heard back yet
  but i live pretty remotely (vets is nearly 50 mile round trip) and they're pretty busy being the only vet in a large rural farming area >
  
  Ah ok