Support the Hearth & Haven Farm Recovery Fund

Support the Hearth & Haven Farm Recovery Fund

In December of 2022, our flocks tested positive for HPAI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, aka ‘bird flu’), and all birds were euthanized by the state on 12/29.

Who are we?

My name is Elaine Kellner, and I am the owner/operator of Hearth & Haven Farm, a 5.5-acre small family farm in Monroe, WA.

I began this farm in 2017 with my husband Matt in an effort to bring our community healthy food from happy animals. Our signature product was our duck eggs, produced by our pasture-raised and pampered flocks.

We supplied three high-end Seattle-area restaurants, two specialty grocery stores, a delivery service, and many local families with duck eggs.

How did the birds get sick?

We don’t know how the virus arrived here, nor do the vets. Best guess is that some wild duck or goose flying from the Skykomish river to some local pond dropped in briefly when we weren’t looking, or perhaps just defecated over the fields while flying by. That’s all it takes.

We tried so hard to keep this disease at bay. Just in the last year, we installed extra netting to ensure wild waterfowl, the primary carriers of the disease, wouldn’t land in our fields. We bought and trained a livestock guardian dog to deter both predators and any wild birds that tried to infiltrate the flock, a job she’s been excellent at. We added a perimeter fence around the entire property to keep the guardian dog in and predators out, since wild carnivores can catch and possibly transmit the disease by consuming sick birds. And we switched to a closed flock, so new additions couldn’t bring in any germs.

And we have ALWAYS maintained strong biosecurity measures, like not allowing any visitors into fields with the birds, quarantining new birds, sterilizing any equipment that left the farm for any reason, and maintaining separate shoes and jackets for use on-farm and off-farm.

Why was the flock euthanized?

The policy of total eradication is logical, but harsh. No country wants to risk bringing in unhealthy or diseased animal products, so the best way for the US to protect its trade relations is to take a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to high-profile livestock diseases. Any flock of birds that tests positive for HPAI, however large or small, is immediately and completely eliminated.

The risk is that even birds who have recovered may remain carriers of the disease, shedding the virus in their environment where wild birds may pick it up and continue spreading it. Or the farmers themselves may track it to another location on their boots. Or a visiting vehicle might carry out a bit of virus on their tires, driving it down the road to the next farm. Containment is considered too risky, so elimination is the order of the day.

While we reported sick birds to the state immediately as required, bad winter weather and the Christmas break caused a week-long delay in test results. The state had to return to the farm to re-test after we farmers spent a nightmarish week and a ruined holiday trying desperately to save our birds from what, at the time, was an unknown illness.

Why weren’t the survivors allowed to stay?

We had hoped that, given the accidental delay in test results and subsequent recovery of some birds, we could potentially serve as an experimental farm – a place to study what genetics might provide extra disease resistance, observe how long birds shed virus, perhaps even breed naturally resistant birds that could improve the nation’s flocks – but sadly, the vets were not aware of any funding available for projects like that. The decision was made to proceed with euthanasia per normal policy.

What does the future hold for the farm?

Honestly, we’re not sure. The USDA mandates complete de-population of all bird species for 120 days, so we cannot even begin to rebuild the flock for that long. We cannot raise any other poultry for that period of time, either – so no getting into chickens or turkeys instead.

And, of course, you can’t simply go to the store and buy new ducks off the shelf. A wait of 4 months before we can re-populate, another month for eggs to hatch, and 4-6 months before the young birds are old enough to lay means that we will be completely out of product for a full year.

What’s more, due to the timing, that would mean that any replacement birds wouldn’t mature until November or so of 2023. Ducks that mature in winter don’t begin laying until the days get longer in spring, meaning even if we jumped right back in, we wouldn’t have eggs until March of 2024.

And for all that time we’d still be paying the mortgage, utilities, upkeep on farm buildings and fencing, the LGD’s food and vet bills, and all the feed, bedding, water, electricity, and labor to raise replacement birds.

The USDA does compensate farmers for the culled birds, but that’s simply a small one-time payment for the market value of the animals – just a couple grand, in our case. Nowhere near enough to buy new birds, new food, sanitize and reset the duck houses, and pay all the bills during that mandated fallow period.

What’s more, they do NOT compensate for the egg washing/packing equipment that is collecting dust, the empty fridges and buildings slowly depreciating, the ton of straw in the loft, or the five tons of layer feed that will spoil long before any new birds are old enough to eat it.

It also does not offer compensation for the rare genetics we’ve thoughtfully cultivated in our flock over the last five years, the exceptional individual birds we carefully selected for next spring’s breeding, or the heartbreak of losing our pet ducks. Losing the three birds we started with, our Founding Feathers, was especially hard.

How on earth is a small family farm supposed to operate for a year and a half with all those expenses, losses, and ZERO income? It’s simply not possible.

What will my donation do?

While we don't know whether we will be able to return to business as a commercial egg producing farm, your donation to support the farm, farmers, and suddenly unemployed farm dogs during the mandated 120-day fallow period is greatly appreciated.

Our business was in demand, with a two-month waitlist for duck eggs at the time of the state-mandated depopulation. In fact, throughout the year, all the eggs the girls produced were generally spoken for by Tuesday or Wednesday of each week. Grocers sold out each week, sometimes even within hours of delivery! We were repeatedly turning away customers as demand consistently outstripped supply.

This was a thriving business with a bright future, dedicated customers, and big plans to bring good food to even more people. Unfortunately, we are suddenly left without any farm income after the euthanasia of our flock. We are hoping to raise enough money to make up for our expected income for the next four months, in an effort to keep the farm.

Most importantly, however, we will be using this time to work with the WSDA, USDA, state and local representatives, and major news outlets to get this story out there! Policy NEEDS to be changed before more small farms are driven out of business by this aggressive policy and complete lack of financial support coming from the government.

Not only will other small farms be driven out of business unless changes are made, but potential new farmers will undoubtedly be turned off by this kind of tragedy. Who would start a new farm when this could be the outcome?

Please help us save small farms!