Birds at two facilities tested positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Tests from birds at a major egg producer in the south have returned positive for avian influenza, prompting plans to kill nearly two million hens and pullets. A producer in Michigan also said some of its birds tested positive for the illness.
Cal-Maine Foods said April 2 that it was depopulating 1.6 million laying hens and 33,7000 pullets, which totals about 3.6 percent of its flocks, after some of the birds at a facility in Parmer County, Texas tested positive for H1N5, a strain of the highly pathogenic avian influenza.
Under federal rules aimed at stemming the spread of disease, infected flocks must be killed.
The number of impacted birds is the largest since Dec. 7, 2023, when an Ohio farm was forced to kill 2.6 million egg layers, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The other non-backyard cull this month involved just 31,200 birds in South Dakota.
Cal-Maine Foods had to kill about 1.6 percent of its flock in 2023 after the avian influenza was detected at a Kansas facility, and numerous other companies across the country culled millions of chickens in 2022 and 2023.
Cal-Maine Foods is halting production at the facility in order to comply with protocols from the department. The firm said it is working to secure eggs and meat from other facilities “to minimize disruption to its customers.”
“The company continues to work closely with federal, state and local government officials and focused industry groups to mitigate the risk of future outbreaks and effectively manage the response,” according to Cal-Maine Foods.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller in a statement called the new development “absolutely devastating news for Cal-Maine and the entire Panhandle region which has already suffered so much already.”
He added: “all producers must practice heightened biosecurity measures. The rapid spread of this virus means we must act quickly.”
The United States has about 211 million egg-layers, according to federal data. A dozen eggs currently costs about $2.49, according to the USDA. The department says that the influenza can’t be transmitted through eggs that are safely handled and properly cooked.
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