The signs aren’t just on Delmarva, though. Julie DeYoung, spokeswoman for Perdue Farms, said it is a company-wide initiative to install these signs on each grower’s farm.

“It’s something we’re doing to help producers maintain biosecurity,” she said.

The idea for these mailboxes came from Perdue’s Biosecurity Steering Committee. The group works to further develop and communicate the company’s biosecurity best management practices.

“Historically, we had focused on putting restricted entry signs on the poultry houses themselves, but in discussions people felt the breach in biosecurity occurred farther away from the chicken house,” said Ron Darnell, director of live production for Perdue. “The idea was to put a sign away from the house to discourage people from coming onto the farm, and then evolved into a place to position the visitor log and post the current biosecurity level.”

The signs are placed between 80 and 100 feet away from the entrance of the farm and no closer than 100 feet to the poultry house. DeYoung said Perdue realizes that some farms have some site challenges, so flock supervisors will work with the grower to place the sign. Installation of the signs began in January, and DeYoung said the company hopes to have every sign installed by July 1. Perdue is picking up the cost of the signage and the installation process.

The stop sign is mounted on a mailbox post along with a mailbox that will hold the visitor’s log. A hook hangs below the stop sign, and the number on it will indicate the level of a biosecurity threat on the farm.

Level one is “no serious disease threat” and level two is “serious disease present or threatening,” such as Laryngotracheitis. A level three is “emergency disease present or threatening,” such as an avian influenza outbreak.