3 million Nebraska chickens saved after testing can't confirm bird flu

http://www.omaha.com/money/million-nebraska-chickens-saved-after-testing-can-t-confirm-bird/article_f845c09c-15d6-11e5-8792-239440fc5b6e.html

POSTED: FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2015 12:15 AM
By Cole Epley / World-Herald staff writer

A flock of 3 million chickens that faced extermination has gotten a pardon from a death sentence.

With that, the fortunes of Nebraska’s egg producers are looking up.

State and federal agriculture officials said Thursday that they have lifted the quarantine on the flock of laying hens in Knox County, Nebraska, after rigorous testing failed to confirm the hens had bird flu. A test in late May had come back pre-emptively positive.

The Nebraska Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service have been testing the flock for bird flu daily since May 27.

FULL story at link.