Crescent Duck Farm’s eggs have hatched. The eggs saved for hatching after last month’s outbreak of avian influenza at the Aquebogue farm produced 3,700 ducklings, Crescent Duck Farm President Doug Corwin said last night. About half of them are females. Corwin said he was hoping for a better result, but “so long as we can keep them avian flu-free, we will have just enough for a first generation.” Newborn females will start laying eggs at six months of age. Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that Corwin said last week he hoped 5,000 eggs would hatch. Some 15,000 eggs were sanitized and cleared by the state for hatching at an off-site hatchery. Of that number, 6,000 were discarded because they did not have embryos growing inside, a determination made by examining the egg with a light. The hatching of 3,700 eggs of the remaining 9,000 was a very low hatching rate, compared to normal rates, Corwin said. But the eggs were already old and a lower rate was anticipated, he said. “As a farmer, I was hoping for better,” Corwin said. With highly pathogenic avian influenza sweeping across the country, the potential looms for another avian flu outbreak. If it happens again, Corwin said, “We’re done.” Corwin said last week he expects the quarantine in place at his farm — Long Island’s last surviving duck farm — will remain in place for another 2-3 months. “We are truly doing our best to keep our legacy strong,” he said.***Assessments are currently underway by New York State Department of Transportation officials to determine what will be done to address issues with the Ponquogue Bridge in Hampton Bays after its closure last Friday, according to a spokesperson for the Town of Southampton. Michael Malaszczyk of Dan’s Papers reports that the bridge was closed after the department conducted a routine check on the structure and identified conditions that demanded the bridge’s closure. The Ponquogue Bridge, which runs over the Shinnecock Bay in Hampton Bays, is closed indefinitely.“The state has been out there all day today, rechecking some of the spots that they had identified in the routine inspection, taking a kind of a deeper dive into it to really get a better handle on exactly what’s going on,” Ryan Murphy, a spokesperson for the Town of Southampton, said yesterday. “We’re still kind of in holding pattern, waiting to see what the new assessment data reveals to them and whatever actions they decide are necessary going forward.”No further information on what was found to be wrong with the bridge was available, nor is a time frame on when the bridge could reopen.“We hope it’s sooner than later, but we don’t know what the timeframe is yet,” Murphy continued. “The engineers were looking at the data over the weekend. I guess we could surmise that as a result of looking at that data, they wanted to get some additional information, so they sent a team back out today. They’ve been up on the bridge taking a closer look at things. I would imagine that we’ll be looking at at least another couple of days, or day or two for them to go over whatever their findings were today and figure out what can and can’t be done.”Until then, the Town of Southampton advised drivers to pursue alternate means of accessing Dune Road, and urged everyone to be mindful of the effect the bridge’s closure could have on traffic for the area.***Top chefs from across Long Island — are coming together for a one-night fundraiser to benefit Crescent Duck Farm workers. “Flock Together: A Culinary Tribute to Crescent Duck Farm” will take place this coming Friday; February 28 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Tellers Next Door, 599 Main Street in Islip.Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that the event will feature nine top chefs at chef-led food stations, local cocktails and wines, an auction, and donation opportunities — all with proceeds going directly to...

NYS Dept. of Transportation assessing Ponquogue Bridge