With extensive safety precautions, he hasn't lost any birds to the virus, which has ravaged poultry farms across the US. But the outbreak forced him to make tough calls, like deciding whether to accept a new batch of baby chicks from a hatchery near a virus hotspot in Pennsylvania. If he didn't, he would have no chickens to replace those that die or get sick. "I had no choice," Kreher told the BBC. "It was either accept those baby chicks, or over the next year, we slowly exit farming." "Egg farmers are in the fight of our lives and we are losing," he said.

Though the avian flu, or H5N1, has circulated among American poultry flocks for years, an outbreak starting in 2022 has wreaked havoc on farms, killing over 156 million birds and sending egg prices skyrocketing. The virus then got a foothold among dairy cows last year, and this month, a different strain - tied to severe infections in humans - was found in the cattle. The worsening outbreak comes as President Donald Trump's new administration makes sweeping cuts to government staffing and research funding that public health experts say threatens the country's ability to respond to bird flu and other potential pandemics. This week, the US Department of Agriculture told the BBC it fired several officials who were working on the response to bird flu before trying to hire them back days later. The administration also promised billions in funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health, which scientists say could hamper research that helps them understand the evolution of viruses.

"Right now, the risk to most Americans remains low, but the virus is continuing to surprise us, and so that could change, and could change quickly," said Michaela.