Bird flu found in 50 chickens, ducks in Allen County; state’s 13th infected flock of 2022
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — About 50 chickens and ducks in a small, hobby operation in the Fort Wayne area was identified Friday as Indiana’s 13th flock with avian influenza.
The Indiana State Board of Animal Health announced the findings a day after a flock of about 100 egg-producing birds, also in the Fort Wayne area, had contracted bird flu.
Friday’s findings come from the third flock to be identified with bird flu in Allen County. A quarantine was put in place at the Allen County operations. Other nearby flocks are being tested.
The 2022 bird flu outbreak is Indiana’s largest in years, part of the worst outbreak in the United States since 2015. Rising prices for eggs has been one effect of the outbreak, although avian influenza does not pose a food safety risk.
Here’s data on bird flu outbreaks so far this year in Indiana:
- DuBois and Greene counties in southern Indiana: six commercial turkey flocks. A total of 171,224 birds in the flocks were euthanized.
- Elkhart County in northern Indiana: three commercial duck flocks. A total of 17,179 birds in the flocks were euthanized.
- Johnson County: a hobby flock of chickens, ducks and peafowl. Remaining birds in the flock were euthanized.
- Allen County: two small flocks of an undisclosed type of bird. Remaining birds in the flock were euthanized. The Board of Animal Health did not say what type of birds are involved.
In addition on Thursday, the Board of Animal Health revealed additional wild birds with avian influenza. Of 300 wild birds tested in Indiana, positive results have been found in two bald eagles, two red-tailed hawks, a redhead duck, two great-horned owls, and a double-crested cormorant.
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.