Japan on Wednesday began slaughtering thousands of chickens in the country's largest poultry farming area to fight an outbreak of bird flu. An official said the culling of 8,600 chickens in Kagoshima prefecture, on southwestern Kyushu Island, followed two separate outbreaks in the adjacent prefecture of Miyazaki, where a total of 420,000 birds have been slaughtered.It was Japan's third bird flu outbreak at a poultry farm this year, and authorities and farmers worry the disease may spread further. Local authorities have banned any movement of 5.22 million chickens and eggs kept in the area within 10 kilometres from the outbreak point in Kagoshima prefecture.