Corwin was forced to lay off 48 workers but kept 20 to help with the clean up. He said the company was successful in salvaging many of the 10,000 eggs that he hopes could represent the future of Crescent, which has developed a unique genetic strain of duck over generations.

The United States reported a first outbreak of H5N9 bird flu on a poultry farm, the World Organisation for Animal Health said on Monday. Highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, has spread around the globe in the past years,

A new strain of H5N9 bird flu was detected at a commercial duck operation in California's Merced County. All the ducks were euthanized.