Ducks return to Long Island farm that lost entire flock to bird flu

Doug Corwin knew there was a problem at his family’s commercial duck farm in Long Island when he spotted scores of dead or lethargic birds during a barn inspection in January.Within days, Crescent Duck Farm became a casualty of the global avian flu outbreak, one of many farms around the U.S.that had to cull their entire flock, sending the prices of eggs and other agricultural commodities soaring.Now the more than century-old farm — the last duck farm remaining in a New York region once synonymous with the culinary delicacy — is cautiously rebuilding.But for Corwin, a 66-year-old fourth-generation farmer, it’s not enough to bring the farm back to its 100,000-bird capacity.With ducks hatched from eggs spared from slaughter, he’s working to preserve the unique lineage of fowl that’s allowed his family’s farm to thrive even as others on Long Island fell by the wayside — all while worrying that another flu outbreak would finally wipe him out.“All I know is I don’t want to be hit again,” Corwin said.

“If I go through this twice, I’m done as a duck farmer.”For months, Corwin and his reduced staff have been thoroughly sanitizing the farm’s dozens of barns, clearing out hay and debris, and replacing feeders, ventilation systems, wooden and metal structures and more.At the end of May, the first wave of roughly 900 young ducks arrived from a nearby farm where they had been carefully raised in quarantine these last few months.Another batch of 900 arrived last week and some 900 more will soon make their way to the roughly 140-acre farm in Aquebogue, which is tucked among the vineyards and agricultural lands of Long Island’s North Fork, about 80 miles east of Manhattan.By the end of next summer, Corwin hopes the first ducks will be ready to be processed and brought to market.But he says he won’t rush the reopening.It will be many more months — if ever — before the operation, which processed about 1 million ducks for consumption annually,...