KOZHIKODE: Culling of chickens has started following the confirmation of bird flu. An expert team of department of animal husbandry reached the farm owned by Zarina at Kodiyathur in West Puthiyode. Chickens were infected with the disease here. Kozhikode district collector Sreeram Sambasiva reached the spot and evaluated things. Chickens started dying from Thursday onwards.

Meantime, in the backdrop of bird flu, the health department seized pet birds brought for sale in the Thondayad bypass. Dead chicks were also seized from the traders. The samples of it will be sent to Bengaluru for examination. The health department had earlier directed not to sell birds in the city. Bird flu was earlier confirmed in Kuttanad in 2016. Ducks were infected with the disease then.