Corwin was forced to lay off 48 workers but kept 20 to help with the clean up. He said the company was successful in salvaging many of the 10,000 eggs that he hopes could represent the future of Crescent, which has developed a unique genetic strain of duck over generations.

A new strain of H5N9 bird flu was detected at a commercial duck operation in California's Merced County. All the ducks were euthanized.

Bird flu infections around the U.S. have forced mass cullings and resulted in the deaths of zoo animals and pets