Avian influenza kills nearly all of Allen County hobby flock
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WISH) — Birds on 18 commercial farms will be tested for avian influenza after nearly all of the birds in one hobby flock in Allen County died, the Indiana Board of Animal Health said Thursday.
The Indiana board says the hobby flock’s owner contacted the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Healthy Birds Hotline after birds began dying. The board also says the hobby flock’s birds on Thursday tested as presumptive positives for bird flu. Federal authorities will confirm the tests.
Indiana did not share what type of birds or how many were in the Allen County hobby flock.
Free testing for the 18 commercial farms near the Allen County flock is designed to stop the spread of the virus, the state says.
The 2022 bird flu outbreak in Indiana is the state’s largest in years, part of the worst outbreak in the United States since 2015.
Here’s data on bird flu outbreaks so far this year in Indiana:
- DuBois and Greene counties in southern Indiana: six turkey flocks. A total of 171,224 birds in the flocks were euthanized.
- Elkhart County in northern Indiana: three duck flocks. A total of 17,179 birds in the flocks were euthanized.
- Johnson County: a hobby flock of chickens, ducks and peafowl.
- Wild birds in Indiana: a red-tailed hawk, and two bald eagles, according to Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Control areas around the nine commercial flocks were lifted by May 5, the state says.
Rising prices for eggs has been one effect of the outbreak, although avian influenza does not pose a food safety risk.
On April 28, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the first case of a person with avian influenza.
The USDA’s Healthy Birds Hotline is 866-536-7593.