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.

The avian flu outbreak that has led to the slaughter of millions of birds at U.S. poultry farms and driven up the price of eggs struck the Crescent Duck Farm this week, leading federal officials to order the destruction of the operation’s entire flock.

The highly infectious H5N1 strain has caused outbreaks across the country. Now, Long Island’s last duck farm must kill its entire flock and may go out of business, its owner said.