First case of avian flu detected on US commercial poultry farm since April Response to avian flu outbreaks raises concerns for poultry and egg supply Reuters Published October 6, 2023 3:45pm EDT
The U.S. has detected its first case of avian flu on a commercial poultry farm since April, in a flock of 47,300 turkeys in Jerauld County, South Dakota, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said.
Infected flocks are culled to prevent the spread of the virus, potentially tightening the poultry meat and egg supply if more cases occur.
Since 2022, 58.8 million U.S. chickens, turkeys and other birds have been wiped out by the disease, officially known as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), according to the USDA. The losses drove prices for turkey meat and eggs to record highs last year, raising costs for inflation-hit consumers.
Farmers have since worked to rebuild their flocks, increasing supplies.
COMMERCIAL EGG FARM THAT HOUSES 1 MILLION CHICKENS HAS BEEN INFECTED WITH BIRD FLU
Bird flu vaccine Test tubes labelled "Bird Flu" and eggs are seen in this picture illustration, on Jan. 14, 2023. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo)
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Cal-Maine Foods, the biggest U.S. egg producer, said this week that the average price of conventional eggs dropped 48% from last year to $1.24 per dozen in a quarter that ended on Sept. 2. The company's total net sales fell 30% to $459.3 million in the quarter.
"HPAI is still present in the wild bird population and the extent of possible future outbreaks, particularly during the upcoming fall migration season, cannot be predicted," Cal-Maine said. Wild birds like ducks transmit the virus.
Prior to this week's outbreak, U.S. infections were limited to live bird markets and "non-poultry" birds since April, USDA records show. The last commercial farms infected in April raised turkeys in South Dakota and North Dakota, records show.
I'm so sick of this being doom spread across this site and others.
Turkey and chicken and to a lesser extent duck, are easily replaceable.
The volume of chickens ALONE being raised in Northern Indiana is in the 10s of millions, IF NOT 100S OF MILLIONS. I work with farmers every week. One barn can have anywhere from 27,000 "free range" chickens, to 500,000 birds. PER BARN. Many of these farms have 4-10 barns each. That's 5,000,000 chicken at one farm. Guess how many chicken farms there are in northern Indiana alone? C'mon, guess.
Hundreds. LITERALLY HUNDREDS. In Northern Indiana alone.
Guess what the incubation turn around time is for chickens? 6-8 weeks. So say 1,000,000 chickens die from avian flu. Well, in 6-8 weeks, they are replaced. What about 10 million you say? Take a guess.
END OF STORY.
So when the FAKE NEWS says we're all gonna starve cause 1,000,000 birds had to be destroyed because of bird flu, STOP SPREADING THE FEAR PORN.
^^^THIS
1 million chickens isn't even a drop in the bucket compared to the total chicken population nationwide.