Free Republic

A duck farm on Long Island has hatched a new generation of chicks — beginning to replace the nearly 100,000 mallards they were forced to kill due to the spread of avian flu. Crescent Duck Farm in Aquebogue welcomed 3,700 new chicks just over a month after farm operators were forced to cull 99,000 ducks when an outbreak of H1N5 — bird flu — spread across the susceptible flock. About half of the newborn birds are female — with hens beginning to lay their own eggs at the age of six months. New York state had sanitized 15,000 eggs from...

Australia battens hatches again Glenda's effects are expected to be felt sometime on Thursday Australia is bracing for its second major cyclone in two weeks as a storm with winds of around 280km/h (175mph) headed for its western coast. Cyclone Glenda was expected to hit north-west Australia's Pilbara coastline late on Thursday. A major iron ore port on the Pilbara coast has sent its ships out to calmer waters, and the 10,000 residents of the coastline are preparing their houses. Australia's north-east is still recovering from Cyclone Larry. That storm, which hit the state of Queensland, caused no fatalities but...