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DOVER, Del. — The Delaware Department of Agriculture (DDA) announced Jan. 3 that preliminary testing of a commercial broiler flock in Kent County, Del., has returned presumptive positive for H5 avian influenza. State officials have quarantined the affected premises, and the birds on the property are being depopulated to prevent the spread of the disease.
To better protect their flocks, poultry producers and backyard flock owners must realize that what occurs in wild birds does impact the health of their birds and that this is not only a problem along Delaware’s coast, which is where many of the reported dead wild birds have been located. Birds that are not sick or are sick but strong enough to fly move inland to open space, including farm fields, to forage. DDA said the virus can be introduced to poultry farms and areas where backyard flocks are commingling with wildlife or are not under cover, protecting them from infected wild bird droppings.