Bird flu found at South Dakota egg farm that sends majority of its eggs to California

FLANDREAU, S.D. (KRON/AP) – South Dakota has its first case of bird flu at an egg-laying chicken farm that sends about 70 percent of its eggs to California.

Officials at the Dakota Layers farm says it was told by South Dakota’s state veterinarian Wednesday that one of its nine barns tested positive for avian influenza.

Officials are still waiting to determine whether it’s the highly pathogenic H5N2 strain that has led to the loss of more than 32 million turkeys and chickens in the Midwest since March. Almost 500,000 turkeys in South Dakota have died from it.

The chickens at Dakota Layers will be euthanized once the disease is confirmed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Dakota Layers’ marketing director Tracy Ramsdell says its egg-laying operation is one of the largest in the state, holding 1.3 million chickens.