Nearly 1M Chickens to Be Killed Due to Bird Flu

Though in general, 2023 has not been as bad as 2022
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 7, 2023 3:00 AM CST
Nearly 1M Chickens to Be Slaughtered in Minnesota Due to Bird Flu
FILE - Cage-free chickens stand in a fenced pasture on an organic farm, Oct. 21, 2015, in Iowa.   (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

Nearly 1 million chickens on a Minnesota egg farm will be slaughtered to help limit the spread of the highly contagious bird flu after it was confirmed there, officials said Monday. The US Department of Agriculture announced that the virus was found at a farm in Wright County, Minnesota, as well as in three smaller flocks in South Dakota and Iowa, the AP reports. Whenever the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus is detected on a farm, the entire flock is killed as to keep it from spreading to other farms. In addition to the Minnesota case, the USDA said some 26,800 turkeys will be killed on a farm in McPherson County in South Dakota and nearly 17,000 birds will be slaughtered on two farms in Iowa's Clay County.

The egg and poultry industry has been dealing with a bird flu outbreak since last year. In 2022, nearly 58 million birds—mostly chicken and turkeys—were slaughtered to deal with the virus, contributing to significantly higher egg and poultry prices. The Minnesota farm is the first egg-laying operation where bird flu has been found this year. The toll overall has been much lower in 2023 than in 2022 as the number of cases found in wild birds plummeted and farmers redoubled their efforts to prevent any contact between their birds and the ducks and geese migrating past their farms. Even after 940,000 chickens on the Minnesota farm are slaughtered, there will only have been about 3.4 million birds killed this year.

(More bird flu stories.)

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