The Minnesota Board of Animal Health has lifted the ban on poultry exhibitions — put in place last May because of the spread of bird flu.
That means that the Poultry Barn at the State Fair will reopen next year with live animals, after a year without chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese.
The ban had covered county fairs, too, and swap meets and petting zoos. Those public exhibitions of fowl are allowed as of today.
The board says the virus “struck 108 farms in Minnesota between early March and early June, resulting in the deaths of 5 million turkeys and 4 million egg-laying chickens.”
It says all infected farms had completed cleaning and disinfection of their facilities as of Nov. 13, and 104 farms have been cleared to restock their barns with birds.
