An exclusion zone has been set up around the farm

German vets have begun slaughtering 32,000 chickens on a farm near the Dutch border following the country's first suspected case of bird flu.

Initial tests on a single bird from the farm near the town of Viersen - in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

However, it will be a week before experts will know for sure whether the disease is present.

There are fears that the avian flu, which does not usually affect humans but can devastate bird stocks, could have spread into the country from the Netherlands and Belgium.

Around 20 million birds have been slaughtered in the Netherlands - a quarter of the poultry population there - since an outbreak in late February.

More recently the disease has spread to Belgium where another 2.5 million birds have been destroyed.

However, no new cases have been reported in either country recently, and on Thursday German authorities announced they were relaxing measures to prevent the spread of the disease.

Not intensive

Officials have set up an exclusion zone around the German farm with the suspected case of bird flu.

Millions have already been slaughtered in Belgium

All chickens within the zone will be slaughtered.

A three-day ban has also been imposed on the transportation of live poultry within North Rhine-Westphalia, and a ban on the movement of eggs within 10km of Viersen.

Correspondents say that the German poultry industry is not as intensive as the Dutch, and attempts to control the disease will depend on the density of farms in the area.

Exports of poultry and eggs from the Netherlands and Belgium have been banned by the European Union until 16 May.

EU officials are due to meet on 15 May to decide whether to extend the ban.