Bird flu hits more than 200,000 birds in at least 5 Minnesota counties this month

Jake Vlaminck's turkey farm near Willmar has been hit by bird flu twice in the past three years. Both times, he had to put down his flock and start over.

"My whole business was down for seven months. We just now got back to full capacity," Vlaminck said.

Now the virus is back. After a quiet summer, new avian influenza cases are being reported across Minnesota. This month alone, poultry producers in at least five counties have been hit, and more than 200,000 birds have been affected.

"And I don't want to go through another shutdown like that," Vlaminck said.

Wild birds such as ducks and geese can spread the virus during fall migration, and Vlaminck uses lasers to keep them away from his farm. He bought his first one after avian influenza tore through his operation in 2023, and told WCCO in early 2025 that the lasers had cut his mortality rate roughly in half.

But he's also worried that people are moving the virus around. Fall festivals and agritourism draw visitors to places that keep "guinea fowl, chickens, pheasants, ducks, geese, turkeys," Vlaminck said.

He and other Minnesota turkey growers are pushing the U.S. Department of Agriculture to move quickly on a vaccination plan for their birds. Vlaminck made the same case to WCCO last October, after bird flu forced him to depopulate about 33,000 birds at one site and roughly 38,000 at another.

Growers say the numbers back them up. The number of turkeys raised in the U.S. has fallen from 240 million to 195 million over the past 10 years. Since 2022, nearly 23 million turkeys nationwide have been put down because of the virus.

"We are raising fewer birds, but we are also destroying just as many as we ever have, if not more, because of avian influenza," Vlaminck said.

Minnesota is the nation's top turkey-producing state, and more than 10 million commercial birds there have been lost to bird flu since 2022, WCCO reported in June. University of Minnesota researchers said then that the virus is likely endemic, meaning it could be a problem for years.

Vlaminck and his employees have had to destroy their own flock twice, and they're doing what they can to keep it from happening again.

"When something like this comes around and we have to destroy the birds, and they don't make it to market, it's just very disheartening. It's very hard on all our employees and our mental health," he said.

Minnesota turkey growers say turkey bought in stores is safe to eat. Birds infected with bird flu do not enter the food supply.