Avian Flu Temporarily closes Long Island's Last Duck Farm as U.S. Bars Vaccine, Leaving Flocks At Risk

The avian flu outbreak has hit Long Island’s last duck farm, forcing it to temporarily shut down and after culling of about 100,000 ducks, despite the fact that a vaccine could have prevented it.

Crescent Duck, a longer-than-a-century-old, 140-acre duck farm in Aquebogue that is the last duck farm on Long Island, said its ill-fated flock are part of a nationwide epidemic. But the USDA doesn’t let farmers vaccinate birds because of some large companies’ economic concerns that ducks destined for export will test positive, due to vaccine traces, damaging that business — a decision that has some farmers crying foul.

“The U.S. doesn’t want to use it, because it doesn’t want to lose exports. We’ve had this for three years, it’s starting to affect dairy cows and it’s creating huge problems for the egg industry,” said Crescent President Douglas Corwin. “I don’t want to get it twice. I’m trying to advocate for vaccines. I’m fighting the big lobbyists from the chicken industry who don’t want it.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) indicated the Crescent outbreak impacted 101,120 birds. Crescent said it might have been a little less, since the number at the farm varies day to day.

Since the start of a bird flu outbreak on Feb. 8, 2022, 153.87 million birds have been infected with HPAI, detected in 1,513 flocks in every state including 710 commercial flocks and 803 backyard flocks, according to the CDC.

There are more than 378.5 million egg-laying chickens in the U.S., according to the CDC. More than 9.4 billion broiler chickens and 218 million turkeys in 2023 were processed nationwide, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service. A quarter of U.S. poultry are exported and could be at risk due to trade restrictions, Corwin added.

“If you do a quick test to see if poultry has avian flu, it won’t tell if the antigen is from a vaccine or the bird being sick,” Corwin said. “Twenty-five percent of all poultry experts is billions of dollars. I want the vaccine badly, at least for my breeding stock.”

The death of ducks, chickens, and other fowl, meanwhile, is boosting domestic prices and, potentially, profits for those not affected, although consumers pick up the tab.

In 2022, the first year that this flu hit fowl, the average price for a dozen eggs rose $2, leading to an additional $15 billion in revenue, Corwin said.

“People that don’t get it are doing extremely well,” Corwin said, noting consumers pay the price. “I have all my eggs in one basket. I’d love to have ducks elsewhere.”

The avian flu ravaged the West Coast first and has been floating around the nation for the last three years on the wings of wild birds, making its way to the Midwest and by mid-January hitting the East Coast, including farms in New England and Delaware.

“Migratory birds fly around,” Corwin said. “They catch it, and it winds up somehow in one of my barns.”

Corwin said once Crescent got a positive declaration from bird flu tests, they notified the USDA, knowing what that would mean. 

“I realized all these ducks have to be killed,” Corwin said. “I pulled all 45 people into a room. It was one of the most tearful days of my life.”

He said about 25 people, from affiliated companies, have not been laid off, and thinks he’ll be able to keep 15 longer term.

“We’re cleaning,” Corwin said. “We’re trying to get every piece of manure and dust cleaned.”

The USDA has allowed Crescent to save a portion of eggs before the declaration. 

“We’re closing temporarily, suspending operations,” Corwin said. “We’re under a quarantine. I have eggs at a hatchery and small farms. I’ll bring them back to the farm and start again.”

It could, however, take until middle to late 2026, before they can reopen, since it could take that long to rebuild. 

It takes four weeks for eggs to hatch and six months before females start laying eggs, potentially leading to 2,000 to 3,000 females laying eggs. He would then have to rely on the second generation of females, which would take another six months to begin laying eggs, to build up the breeding stock.

“My ducks are different from my competition. They’re desired by the better restaurants. You don’t see many of my ducks in supermarkets,” Cowin said when asked why he couldn’t buy a new flock. “I sell mostly to the upper-end restaurant community. That’s why we’re still in business. I need these genetics to survive.”

Crescent, the last of a dying breed, was founded in 1908 by Henry Corwin in Aquebogue on land in the family since the middle 1600s. LI duck farming began in 1873 when a British resident of China obtained eggs to produce large White Pekin ducks, according to Crescent.

James E. Palmer, a passenger on a boat from Stonington, Connecticut, encountered those ducks and took one drake and three home to New York.

“These four ducks are the ancestors of today’s Long Island ducks,” according to Crescent. “It was soon found that Long Island, with its humid climate, abundance of fresh running water and sandy soil, was well suited to duck raising.”

The Island was once home to more than 100 duck farms, producing up to 7.5 million birds annually, or about two-thirds of the nation’s duck output, during the 1960s, according to the Associated Press.

Many Long Island duck farms fell prey to economic burdens, such as property taxes, high utility costs and expenses related to controlling pollution, according to The Wall Street Journal. Some sold to developers, while others simply shut down. By 30 years ago, there were 40 duck farms near Crescent, which today is the only remaining major producer.

Crescent is proud of its best practices, using a “nutritionally enhanced computer-generated diet” consisting of corn, soybean meal and wheat. 

They add vitamins, minerals and amino acids, while never adding hormones or antibiotics. Ducks are kept in well-ventilated barns to reduce risk of disease. And they roam in open pens, obtaining food and water.  

But Crescent on its website has long described a terrible danger to LI duck and duck farming in general. 

“Avian flu poses a huge peril to any grower of poultry and exposure to wild birds creates a huge bio-security risk to the ducks,” according to Crescent.

In 2023 about 4,200 birds were affected in a Dutchess County outbreak, 250 in Columbia County, and several thousand each in live bird markets in Brooklyn and in Queens, all in New York State, according to the CDC. Big outbreaks also have hit near the Finger Lakes in 2022 impacting around 300,000 broiler production birds.

“H5 bird flu is widespread in wild birds worldwide and is causing outbreaks in poultry and U.S. dairy cows with several recent human cases in U.S. dairy and poultry workers,” according to the CDC.

The agency on Jan. 6 said Louisiana reported a person previously hospitalized with severe avian influenza illness or “H5N1 bird flu” died. 

“While tragic, a death from H5N1 bird flu in the United States is not unexpected, because of the known potential for infection with these viruses to cause severe illness and death,” according to the CDC.

As of last month, the agency reported there had been 66 confirmed human cases of H5N1 bird flu in the nation since 2024 and 67 since 2022. The Louisiana case was the first in the U.S. who died as a result of an H5 infection in this epidemic. 

Abroad, more than 950 cases of H5N1 bird flu have been reported to the World Health Organization, including about half of those proving fatal, according to the CDC.

The avian flu is having financial effects on workers and businesses, while hitting the food supply. The New York State Department of Labor in a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice (WARN) announcement said Crescent Duck Farm, Inc.’s layoffs of 45 employees would be from Jan. 16 to Feb. 14. A benefit at North Fork Brewing Co. raised about $20,000 for the laid off workers.

The WARN notice describes this as being due to a “natural disaster.” Corwin, however, sees it also as a result of a policy that prevents the use of an effective vaccine. Corwin said he couldn’t buy insurance, but the government provides some indemnification of birds, reimbursing based on half the value they calculate for the birds. 

“It isn’t working,” Corwin said. “And it’s costing the government a lot of money.”

Corwin is committed to reopening, although that is difficult, time-consuming and he believes a vaccine would make the bird business much better for farmers like him.

“It’s going to take a period of time, probably a few months, before I can bring birds back,” Corwin said of his plan to reopen. “It will happen. I’ve got community and political support. I think I’d be letting Long Island down if I didn’t do this.”