Bird flu outbreak affecting chicken and turkey operations

[Mike Nolan]

A major outbreak of bird flu among chicken and turkey grower operations in Iowa and other states has so far resulted in the destruction of millions of chickens and several hundred thousand turkeys.

This is likely to have an impact on prices for chicken and turkey meat as well as chicken eggs.

It is assumed that migration patterns for wild game birds is responsible for the outbreak.

Spread the word

      

  

  

[RiversideLen]

If it isn't one thing, it's another. With the crowded conditions the chickens are raised in, disease spreads easily.

[Mike Nolan]

I haven't seen anything official on it, but I suspect free range chickens (meaning they have access to the outside) are more likely to get bird flu than those who never leave the henhouse, because they pick up the virus from the droppings of geese and ducks flying overhead.

[Mike Nolan]

Another egg-laying operation in NE Nebraska has been quarantined due to bird flu, and 1.7 million layers will need to be destroyed.

The story on it in the Lincoln paper says that according to the USDA, chicken breasts are up $1 a pound in the past year and egg prices have tripled.

Until this bird flu epidemic subsides, those prices are likely to go even higher.

[BakerAunt]

Bird flu outbreaks have occurred at two duck farms in Elkhart County, Indiana. So far, poultry in areas around it have tested negative, as have all wild fowl tested, except for one red-head duck.

[chocomouse]

We lost two bald eagles to avian flu, in northern Vermont, last week. They just came off the endangered list last year.

[Author]

Posts