Listen To This Story
State officials confirmed a sixth case of bird flu and will kill a massive flock of laying hens to curb the spread of the highly contagious disease, according to the Nebraska Department of Agriculture.
The latest flock to come down with the highly pathogenic avian influenza totaled 1.7 million birds in Dixon County – the county just west of Sioux City, Iowa.
State and federal officials will kill all the birds to keep the virus from spreading to other flocks – just like five others so far – according to the agency's news release. The Dixon County flock is the largest flock to date in Nebraska to confirm a case of the devastating bird flu.
NPR reported last week 23 million birds across the country had been killed this year because of the bird flu. In Nebraska, more than 2.67 million birds have been killed since the start of the year.