At Ekonk Hill Turkey Farm in Plainfield, owner Rick Hermonot isn’t waiting for the first case of highly infectious avian flu virus to be detected in Connecticut before taking steps to protect his flocks.

“We’ve had avian flu on our radar for a while,” he said last week. “We do worry that if avian flu gets into our birds, that flock is done for, so we’re definitely trying to implement the protocols.”

Over the past few weeks, while the farm awaits the arrival of a new flock of turkey poults for the 2015 season, construction crews have been leveling a site at the farm in preparation for building a large new turkey coop with steel roof and concrete floor.

“It will be capable of containing our entire flock if necessary,” he said. “If we get word that avian flu has been detected in the eastern region, we will be able to confine our birds to help prevent exposure.”

The farm raises about 3,000 turkeys and 2,000 chickens each year by free-range methods, allowing the birds to forage a fenced-in pasture instead of being confined for most of their lives. But with the threat of the H5N2 virus spreading through 15 western and Midwestern states since December, Hermonot decided that taking precautions sooner rather than later is prudent.

Michael Darre, professor of poultry science at the University of Connecticut, agrees.

“The risk is high,” he said in an email message Tuesday, in response to a question about the likelihood that the virus that has killed 7 million birds nationwide and infected another 29 million will come to Connecticut. “We recommend that all poultry flocks employ the best biosecurity methods available to prevent the (virus) from entering their flock.”

For consumers, Darre said, the virus is likely to cause an increase in egg prices of 60 to 90 cents per dozen over the next few months. Turkey prices are also expected to rise. Farmers will also be paying more for chicks to replace diseased flocks, which could put additional upward pressure on poultry prices paid by consumers, he said.

And while human health is not at risk from the virus, since the H5N2 strain does not cause illness in people, he noted that proper storage of eggs and poultry meat below 45 degrees and cooking to 165 degrees to kill Salmonella bacteria and other pathogens remains necessary to ensure food safety.

In Connecticut, with an estimated 5 million chickens, turkeys and other farmed poultry, the state Department of Agriculture issued an advisory three weeks ago urging commercial and backyard farmers alike to take steps to protect their flocks. Because the virus came from wild birds along the Pacific flyway that had contact with domestic flocks, the most important precaution is to keep domestic birds away from wild ones, the agriculture department said.

Since the virus was first detected in California, it has also been found in birds along the Central and Mississippi flyways. Darre said that since the spring migratory season for the Atlantic flyway is nearly over, the risk of infected birds landing in a Connecticut poultry farm is lessening now but could rise again when the fall migration starts.

“Any bird that is reared outside, or has access to the outside … is at increased risk,” he said. Farmers need to be especially vigilant about deterring waterfowl, which are the main carriers, he said, and keep poultry out of any pond where waterfowl have landed for at least seven days after they leave.

In addition to providing shelter for birds, he recommended farmers install equipment to sanitize footwear inside the coop or change into a clean pair of shoes when entering.

The rising popularity of backyard chicken flocks, Darre said, presents some unique challenges to dealing with the threat of avian flu.

“It is hard to estimate how many backyard flocks there actually are,” he said. “I have almost 1,000 names on my small flock mailing list.”

He urged poultry owners to contact the Connecticut Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at UConn to request a necropsy on any birds found dead from unknown causes. The lab can be reached at (860) 486-3738. That would allow state agriculture officials to act immediately to contain the spread of the virus.

At White Gate Farm in East Lyme, owner Pauline Lord said her main strategy to protect her flock of free-range hens is to keep wild birds away. The farm has 40 laying hens and another 80 younger chickens that forage in pastures, a main selling point for her egg customers.

To keep wild birds away from her flocks, her farm installed special feeders that only chickens can operate. The feeders were installed four years ago after her flocks suffered from an infestation of mites brought by starlings, she said. Now with the threat of avian flu looming, she’s grateful the feeders seem to be keeping other wild birds away, too.

“It’s really cut down on the wild birds,” she said.

Along with building the new turkey coop, Ekonk Hill farm is taking several additional preventive measures, Hermonot said. For starters, visitors to the farm will have less access to the areas where the birds are kept than in the past, and more frequent blood tests of his flock are planned. An Anatolian shepherd dog keeps busy chasing wild birds away.

“We also will be sanitizing tires of delivery vehicles that have been on other poultry farms before they enter our property,” he said.

He is hopeful the farm will be able to continue using free-range methods, believing that raising birds with as much fresh air and sunshine as possible is the best way to keep them healthy.

“Our birds are healthy,” he said. “Fresh air and sunshine kills a lot of disease. In a confined operation, if the virus gets into the building, it spreads immediately.”

j.benson@theday.com

Twitter: @BensonJudy

Connecticut poultry by the numbers

By the numbers:

Connecticut poultry:

Farms with laying hens: 1,062

Farms with fewer than 50 laying hens: 916

Farms with more than 3,200 laying hens: 4

Farms raising broilers and other chickens for meat: 157

Turkey farms: 132

Duck farms: 180

Source: Connecticut Department of Agriculture, 2012 inventory