The first lot of chicks and ducks that were reared after the bird flu crisis have now laid the first batch of eggs, Deccan Herald reports.

CPDO began fresh rearing in June this year after it brought in eggs of different varieties. Now, they have all grown up and started to lay eggs.

At present, CPDO has over 10,000 chicks, 2,000 ducks and gets around 600 eggs from these birds.

Institute Deputy Director Dr Mahesh P S says the first batch of eggs laid will be hatched and the process of supplying the chicks and eggs to various states and farmers will begin only in February next year.

"After the bird flu incident, there were various measures taken to streamline the procedures in the institute. Potassium permanganate dips have been make mandatory before stepping into the institute and shelters have been built to disinfect any vehicle that enters the CPDO premises," he added.

Unlike previous practices of allowing visitors, CPDO has limited the entry for visitors and has ensured that workers follow biosecurity guidelines of wearing proper gears before entering the poultry cages, Dr Mahesh added.

CPDO had to cull over 33,000 birds and destroy thousands of eggs due to bird flu last year which was the first of its kind crisis the institute had faced.

The institute which also reared turkeys and emus has now limited its fresh rearing to chicks and ducks. CPDO and TI Director Dr N Rajeswara Rao said turkeys will now be reared at a different location. He said that talks are underway with the State government to start a separate turkey unit.

Bangalore was the only centre in the country which had almost standardised emu rearing before the bird flu broke out. Dr Mahesh said the institute started rearing around 60 emus in 2007 and over a period they multiplied to 369. "Just when we had standardised the rearing procedure of emu, the bird flu broke out and we lost all of them. The Central government has limited CPDO's rearing only to chicks and ducks for now," he added.