Officials say bird flu found at 3rd Indiana duck farm

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — State officials say avian influenza has been detected at a third northern Indiana duck farm.

The Indiana State Board of Animal Health said Monday that laboratory testing of a commercial duck flock in Elkhart County has come back as presumptively positive for the virus.

It says the samples are being verified at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Iowa.

The agency says the duck flock has an estimated 6,500 birds.

The agency also says positive test results have been identified in a bald eagle, a hawk and a redhead duck collect in Indiana.

Bird flu was detected earlier this year at six turkey farms in southern Indiana’s Dubois and Greene counties.

Final activities to close the cases, including compost disposal, virus elimination, environmental sampling for presence of the virus and a fallow period continue, according to the agency.