A “devastating” wave of bird flu has struck a Freeburg-area farm known for selling a variety of eggs from pasture-raised chickens, ducks, geese and guinea hens.

“I was shocked at how fast it went through,” farmer Joel Funk said Wednesday. “It’s devastating.”

Funk noticed some chickens had died last weekend and initially thought the deaths were caused by the cold weather that had moved into the Metro East. By Sunday he suspected the deaths were due to something deadlier than low temperatures.

He contacted the Illinois Department of Agriculture on Monday morning, and by Monday night he received a text saying that avian influenza had been detected.

All egg sales at Funk Family Farm, 8945 Jefferson Road, were halted, and all birds that survived the weekend had to be put down.

Funk plans

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