Niigata prefectural officials were killing all the chickens at a farm in Sekikawa Village after about 40 were found dead there on Monday.

In the northern prefecture of Aomori, local authorities were destroying 16,500 ducks at a farm after some of them tested positive to the H5 bird flu strain in preliminary testing on Monday.

Authorities in Niigata and Aomori decided to restrict the movements of poultry and eggs within 3 kilometres of the farms in question.

310,000 chickens to be killed in Japan after bird flu confirmed

Tokyo - Authorities began culling 310,000 chickens at a farm on the Sea of Japan coast early Tuesday after a highly pathogenic strain of H5 avian influenza was detected in five birds, local authorities said.