My Avian Flu

I've had 2 friends who owned chickens and have had them killed to try and
stop the spread the avian flu virus.  It wasn't their choice to have them
killed, but they are going to get compensation from the government for the
deaths of their birds.  For one, it's sad, but they're being compensated
fairly.  For the other, there's problems abound with insurance as their
birds were show birds and used regularly for breeding (sorry, I can't use 'stud'
and 'chicken' in the same paragraph --and yes, I know a stud chicken [dammit!]
is in fact a rooster).  Their birds are worth tens of thousands of dollars
and they'll be lucky to get a few hundred dollars from the government.

The latest news about the avian flu, is of course that it's spread beyond the
'containment zone' where they've been killing (and plan on killing up to)
19,000,000 birds.  Nineteen million birds.  And the virus continues to
spread and has now affected 29 poultry farms.

I have 2 thoughts here.  The first one, is a little ignorance on my part,
but it's something I thought might be a bit freaky.  Having lived near a
goose farm when  was a little boy, I remember how loud they were during the
day.  Yes, eventually I got used to the noise and it pretty much became a
regular 'hum' during the summer days when I'd be playing outside.  I can't
recall if I could hear them in the house, but I'm sure there were times I could.
Now imagine actually living on a poultry farm.  It's gotta be noisy. 
Sure, they're used to it, but imagine what the farm sounds like the day after
the government has come in and asphyxiated your flock. 

Dead silence.

Freaky.  May not be true and I'm sure there's sound filters and blockers
put in place years ago and now there's just empty shells of buildings.  I
know one of my friends has gone into their coop and lifted nests and searched
the entire building "just in case" they missed one and they still have
a chicken on their property.

My second thought is the latest news report about the farm about 40km from the
containment zone.  Government officials are baffled with the latest
infection.  One official thinks it's because they haven't been able to ship
out the carcasses to incinerators and that's making the virus
spread.   have another idea, though:

Birds fly.  And you can't kill every bird.