The white characters "Xingxing Breeding Farm" can still be seen on the red brick wall, but there is no poultry in sight.
On October 14, chickens suddenly dropped dead by the dozens in the farm in Tengjiaying Village in Saihan District of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. On October 19, the State Bird Flu Reference Lab confirmed that they had died of H5N1 bird flu.
After being sprayed with disinfectant at two checkpoints, 24 reporters, in protective clothing, were allowed to enter the village on Thursday.
Covering one hectare, the farm had about 7,000 poultry, including chickens, ducks, geese, peacocks and pigeons.
Before the outbreak, the owner of the farm Qin Zhijun, 44, had an average income of more than 100,000 yuan (US$12,340) annually.
"I have been raising chickens for 20 years, but I had never seen chickens dying like that," Qin said.
When the chickens were proved to have died of bird flu, all his poultry and birds were killed in two days. Meanwhile, the local government ordered closure of the farm and a three kilometers radius around it.
"At first, it was hard to bear," said Qin. "I did not feel like eating, nor sleeping. I was frustrated. Now I have thought it over and over again. I believe the government will not leave us alone. We could still start from scratch again."
After the outbreak, 25 people in close contact with dead poultry received medical monitoring and 11 of them have been relieved of monitoring. The other 14 are in good condition.
China has not reported any human infection of bird flu so far.
As the village has been under closure, villagers have to pass checkpoints after being disinfected and registered when they go out and come back.
"It's troublesome," said a villager who declined to give his name, "But what else can we do? We know it's a contagious disease."
Qin said he knew he would lose a lot of money this time. But he still wants to raise chickens again.
Compensation will be paid to farmers, at an average of 30 yuan per chicken.