Bird flu found in central Iowa flock as migration accelerates

A backyard flock of chickens and ducks in Dallas County was recently infected with a readily transmissible and deadly avian flu, according to state ag officials.

It was the first detection of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Iowa poultry in more than two weeks. The flock had 27 birds, according to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship.

It was the fifth detection this year in an Iowa flock, which stands in contrast with 2024, when the year's first known poultry infection was discovered in May.

The coming weeks are a pivotal time for bird flu outbreaks, as wild birds such as ducks and geese that are thought to be prominent hosts of the virus migrate north.

When the current dangerous subtype of the virus emerged in 2022, it infected 18 Iowa flocks in March and April and led to the mass culling of about 13 million birds. Most were egg-laying chickens.

In the past two years, spring infections were minimal. There were none reported in Iowa in 2024, and only one in 2023: a backyard flock of about 50 birds in Chickasaw County, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

But both of those years had surges of infections in late months. About 6.7 million egg-laying chickens were destroyed in Iowa in December 2024.

Entire flocks are culled to limit the spread of the virus.

The chicken losses in Iowa and elsewhere led egg prices to peak in February at more than $8 per dozen, the USDA reported last week. But those prices declined by more than $1 per dozen in the Friday report due to reduced demand.

Wild birds are migrating in Iowa now, but the intensity of their movement is relatively low, according to BirdCast, a university-led migration tracker.

Other Iowa flocks that have been infected this year include:

Comments: (319) 368-8541; jared.strong@thegazette.com