State officials said Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025, that they have confirmed the first case of avian influenza in Lancaster County in a commercial flock somewhere near Witmer in East Lampeter Township.
Chris Knight / LNP | LancasterOnline
Here’s how Pennsylvania is handling the latest outbreak of bird flu in Lancaster County
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Rachel McDevitt/StateImpact Pennsylvania
Chris Knight / LNP | LancasterOnline
State officials said Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025, that they have confirmed the first case of avian influenza in Lancaster County in a commercial flock somewhere near Witmer in East Lampeter Township.
Now that new outbreaks of avian flu have been detected in Lancaster County, members of a state and federal task force are warning poultry producers of threats to their flocks and offering resources to reduce the virus’ spread.
Testing and other requirements are put in place around farms with known infections. Experts visit those areas to locate all flocks – even backyard flock-keepers – to ensure information is provided and monitoring, if needed, will be effective.
Two poultry flocks and one commercial duck flock in Lancaster County have reported outbreaks, affecting more than 55,000 birds in the county.
Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows Pennsylvania has seen 10 cases of bird flu in the last 30 days; five in commercial flocks and five in backyard flocks, affecting more than 2.2 million birds.
Since the outbreak started in February 2022, Pennsylvania has seen 37 commercial flocks and 44 backyard flocks affected, totalling more than 6.9 million birds.
The Shapiro administration said it is leading a state and federal interagency task force to carry out a comprehensive response on affected farms to help keep the virus from spreading further.
Each presumed positive farm is quarantined and all commercial poultry facilities within a 6.2-mile radius of infected flocks are subject to testing requirements and restrictions on moving poultry products. Dairy farms within a 1.86-mile radius are also subject to testing requirements and restrictions on transporting products.
The names and addresses of impacted farms are not released to the public.
Shannon Powers, press secretary with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, said as long as farms in the restricted area are known to the agency, the farms are provided with a map to check their address for what restrictions and requirements might apply to them. Those who are known to the department to have backyard chickens are also notified via email.
The response team canvasses the 6.2-mile radius around affected farms to determine whether there are farms not listed in the state and federal systems, Powers said. The department encourages those who raise birds to apply for a premises ID, so that they receive critical updates on diseases and other animal health issues.
“With the rise in popularity of backyard chickens, this has been a challenge,” Powers said.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza is almost always fatal to domestic poultry and spreads rapidly. The disease’s severity requires humanely euthanizing exposed birds, Powers said.
Commercial poultry operations must safely dispose of animals and litter and disinfect the facilities before new birds can be brought in.
The task force helps producers determine the safest and most humane way of euthanizing animals and how to dispose of them, based on factors including the location of the farm, number of animals and surrounding water supply.
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