Bird flu outbreak at Georgia chicken farm reported affecting 140,000 birds
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A Georgia chicken producer is working to contain the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), also known as bird flu, after becoming the third commercial operation in the state to test positive this year.
A Gordon County producer noticed symptoms of the illness Wednesday and reported it Georgia Poultry Laboratory Network Thursday, according to a Georgia Department of Agriculture press release.
The following day, the Georgia Department of Agriculture’s Emergency Management and State Agricultural Response Teams “deployed to depopulate, dispose of, clean up and disinfect the affected premises.”
About 140,000 broiler chickens were housed in the facility.
Workers pack cartons of eggs at Sunrise Farms on February 18, 2025 in Petaluma, California. As egg prices skyrocket in the wake of an avian flu outbreak, egg producers are having to invest millions of dollars in biosecurity efforts to keep their flocks safe. (Justin Sullivan)
For at least the next two weeks, state officials say, all commercial poultry operations within a 6.2-mile radius are subject to quarantine and surveillance testing.
“This poses a serious threat to Georgia’s #1 industry and the thousands of Georgians whose livelihoods depend on poultry production,” Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Tyler J. Harper said in a statement. “Our teams are working around the clock to contain the spread and protect our herds.”
Rows of raw chicken are placed on a rotating spit inside a glass rotisserie oven at a food stall in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on September 9, 2025. (Michael Nguyen/NoorPhoto)
CDC declares bird flu emergency as experts warn of potential fall resurgence
Last week, the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy Research and Innovation Office (CIDRAP) reported on a commercial turkey farm. Swift County “Having 34,000 birds, it is the site of the latest outbreak to hit the nation’s top turkey-producing state.”
A A commercial egg-layer farm in Indiana CIDRAP reported a recent bird flu outbreak involving nearly 20,000 birds.
ISA Brown chickens in a chicken coop at an egg farm on Monday, March 3, 2025 in Mason, Michigan, US. (Emily Elkonin/Bloomberg)
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According to the US Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Inspection Service (APHIS), HPAI was first confirmed in commercial herds in the US on February 8, 2022.
According to the agency’s data, in the last 30 days, 64 flocks have been confirmed infected, affecting about 3.5 million birds.
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