Bird flu hits Montgomery County, with outbreak in backyard chickens

The highly contagious bird flu has hit Montgomery County, Maryland, where officials say a backyard flock of chickens tested positive for the virus, making it the first case of a homeowner’s birds having the virus in Maryland this year and bringing the number of cases in the D.C. region to 11.

Officials with the Maryland Department of Agriculture said the latest outbreak in Montgomery County involved a flock of about 20 chickens.

Maryland’s state veterinarian, Jennifer Trout, said the chickens’ owner took two of the dead birds to the Department of Agriculture’s Animal Health Lab in Frederick, where they tested positive last week for avian flu. Trout said the remaining chickens at the property were killed to stop the spread of the disease...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2025/02/05/bird-flu-montgomery-county-backyard-chickens/