‘Bird flu’ outbreak shutters Long Island’s last duck farm, as culling of 99,000 birds is underway

An outbreak of avian influenza at Crescent Duck Farm in Aquebogue has forced the farm to cease operations and begin to euthanize its entire flock, jeopardizing the future of Long Island’s last remaining duck farm.

The presence of the virus, which is highly contagious and deadly among domestic poultry, was confirmed by lab tests late Thursday, Crescent Duck Farm President Doug Corwin said in an interview this morning. 

The farm began euthanizing its inventory, which Corwin said numbered just over 99,000 birds, over the weekend. The culling process is ongoing, with officials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture on-site. A quarantine is in place, with strict biosecurity measures in place, including restricted access, to ensure that the virus remains contained, Corwin said. 

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, an influenza type A virus, is carried by wild birds, which can be infected with the virus but show no signs of illness, according to USDA. Wild  birds can carry the disease to new areas when migrating, potentially exposing domestic poultry to the virus. There is currently no treatment for the virus, which can wipe out entire flocks within a matter of days.  For that reason, euthanizing flocks is generally the only way to ensure containment and protect other birds. 

Avian influenza A viruses rarely infect people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which considers risk to the general public low. People who have job-related or recreational exposures to infected birds are at higher risk of infection, the CDC says. The virus is not known to be transmissible among humans. 

No one at Crescent Duck Farm is known to have contracted the virus, Corwin said. Everyone is being monitored. 

The Suffolk County Health Department said in a statement late yesterday that the “county is working with state agencies to ensure public health and safety. There is minimal risk to public health.”

The current U.S. outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, an influenza type A virus, began in February 2022 and has affected nearly 139 million birds across all 50 states and Puerto Rico, including 652 commercial folks and 779 backyard flocks, according to the most recent data published by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS).

Future of Long Island’s last duck farm is uncertain

Corwin said the outbreak at his family’s farm leaves its future up in the air. After culling operations are completed, which will take about a week, a massive cleanup will be undertaken.

“I’ve got to get all these facilities totally washed out, totally disinfected, totally scrubbed. Then APHIS comes back and swabs everything to make sure there’s no viral particles in all of the barns, then at that point in time, the quarantine would be lifted,” Corwin said.  “It’s going to be a two, three month process,” he said. “It’s a huge, huge task.”

“Does it mean I’m going to start up again? I’ve got a lot of hurdles to overcome to start up again,” Corwin said. “You don’t snap your fingers and — you have to realize that the reason that I’m in business is my genetics are so different from my competition that I’ve got tremendous demand in the restaurant trade,” he said.

Corwin, a fourth-generation co-owner of the family duck farm, has worked in the business since he graduated from college. Crescent Duck Farm, in operation since 1908, has over the past 70 or 80 years, “developed a meatier bird that has enough skin fat to make it really, really succulent when you cook it, without making it overly fatty.” For that reason, it’s the duck of choice among the “white-tablecloth trade” to which his business caters. That selective breeding is “what’s kept us in business,” Corwin said.

The state is working with Crescent Duck Farm to try to preserve the genetic material the Corwins developed over the span of decades. Corwin said it’s possible the eggs he’s got from prior to the outbreak will meet testing requirements and can be hatched at another hatchery. That remains to be seen, he said. 

“I normally keep 7,000 or so females laying eggs,” he said. “Hopefully there’s enough genetic diversity there” to make starting from scratch successful.

“That might be the basis of being able to start up again —might, might,” Corwin said.  “I can’t say that yet because — I’m talking like a year or two down the road,” he said.  

Females don’t lay eggs until they’re six months old. First the eggs must be hatched, which takes time, then the birds have to grow, and the farm would have to build up its population.  

“You’ve got to realize I’ve got a huge overhead here,” Corwin said. “This isn’t a little farm stand type operation. It’s not like I can go to Agway and buy some seed,” he said. 

“There’s a huge amount of pride in what we’ve developed and grown here,” Corwin said. “We sell to the best of the best purveyors. We sell to the best of the best restaurants.”

But it’s a very complicated business. “The only reason I’m in it is because I was born in it. I got a good education. I loved it. I still love it. This is my life,” Corwin, now 66, said. 

“Now we employ 75 people, of which at least 46 or 47are laid off at this point in time,” he said. Nearly all of them are long-time employees. “People stay here, families stay here with me,” he said. 

The past several days have taken a toll. “The tears… I couldn’t walk through this place in the last week without crying,” after telling his workers what was going on. “As soon as I got the  diagnosis, I talked to everybody. I knew what this thing was. It was like Covid for ducks. Everything ended.”

If Crescent Duck Farm has a future, it will be in the hands of the next generation, he said. “But it’s a big nut,” he said. They’re going to have to decide and if they really want it, “I will do my best to support them and make sure it happens for them,” Corwin said.

“It would be a one- to two-year fight to get going again.” 

Corwin said the farm has “phenomenal community support” government support too.  “I’ve always tried to do the right thing in life,” he said. “We put $5 million in capital investment building a waste treatment plant here. That’s huge. We get nitrogen levels well below drinking water quality,” Corwin said. 

“I hate to throw it away,” he said, recalling the sadness he felt watching dozens of other duck farms go out of business.

Duck farming along the Peconic River and its creeks and tributaries began in Riverhead  in the late 19th Century. It became a major sector of the agricultural industry on Long Island, where 100 duck farms once flourished. The region became famous for the Pekin ducks grown here.

“I always wanted to die a duck farmer and I don’t know if I’m going to be able to do that at this point,” Corwin said. 

“Right now I’ve gotta get through this, one step at a time, one day at a time,” he said. He realizes the legacy not just of the family farm, but of the legacy of duck farming in the entire region is on the line. 

“This is iconic,” Corwin said. “I don’t really want the only Long Island ducks to be baseball players.”