Bird flu found in small Elkhart County flock; state’s 14th infected of 2022

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — A small flock of chickens, ducks and geese in Elkhart County is the 14th in Indiana found to have bird flu, state officials said Tuesday.

The flock is the fourth in Elkhart County to be found positive for avian influenza, the Indiana State Board of Animal Health reports. The flock confirmed Tuesday is a noncommercial, hobby flock, and the earlier three flocks in Elkhart County involved commercial poultry operations.

With Tuesday’s discovery, the board’s staff will be testing birds in nearby flocks.

The bird flu confirmation is the first in Indiana since June 8, the board says in a news release. Indiana had declared itself free of bird flu on July 21. 

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.
• Allen County: About 50 chickens and ducks in a small, hobby operation in the Fort Wayne area. The birds were euthanized.

Updated figures from the board show 171,224 turkeys and 19,679 ducks have been euthanized in total.

Previously, 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.