OMAHA, Neb. — Nebraska agriculture officials say 1.8 million more chickens must be killed after bird flu was found on a farm, signaling that an outbreak that has already killed more than 50 million birds throughout the country, continues to spread.
The state’s 13th case of bird flu has been found at an egg-laying farm in northeastern Nebraska’s Dixon County, about 120 miles north of Omaha, Nebraska, the Nebraska Department of Agriculture said Saturday.
As with other farms where bird flu has been found this year, all chickens at the Nebraska farm will be killed to limit the spread of the disease. The USDA says more than 52.3 million birds in 46 states — mostly chickens and turkeys on commercial farms — have been killed in this year’s outbreak.
Nebraska is second only to Iowa’s 15.5 million birds killed, with 6.8 million birds affected on 13 farms.
In most past bird flu outbreaks, the virus mostly died off over the summer, but this year’s version found a way to stick around and began a resurgence this fall, killing more than 6 million birds in September.
The virus is mainly spread by wild birds during migration across the country.
