The local government began culling 168,400 chickens early Wednesday after some dead chickens at a poultry farm in Miyazaki Prefecture were found to have contracted a highly virulent strain of bird flu.
This is the second mass culling in just over a month in Miyazaki Prefecture, which has the largest number of broiler chickens among Japan's 47 prefectures with about 27.4 million as of last February.
After a number of chickens were found dead Tuesday at a farm in the Kijo district, the prefectural government conducted genetic tests and confirmed the presence of a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus.
That poultry farm has around 61,700 chickens with another 106,700 chickens at an adjacent facility run by the same operator, according to the prefectural government.
Last month, about 120,000 chickens were culled after a highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza virus was detected at a poultry farm in Kawaminami, a district neighboring Kijo in Miyazaki Prefecture.
Since November, the highly pathogenic H5 strain of virus has been detected at poultry farms in many areas of Japan including Niigata, Aomori, Hokkaido, Gifu and Miyazaki prefectures.