Bird flu: Nearly a million chickens will be slaughtered in Minnesota
In worrying news affecting the poultry industry, it has been confirmed that nearly 1 million chickens at an egg farm in Minnesota will be culled to stop the spread of the highly contagious bird flu.
Officials from the United States Department of Agriculture announced this drastic measure last Monday, after confirming the presence of the virus on a farm located in Wright County, Minnesota.
Additionally, cases of the disease were reported in three smaller herds in the states of South Dakota and Iowa. When the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus is detected on a farm, the immediate and radical action is to cull the entire flock to prevent the disease from spreading to other facilities.
This is not an isolated case, as the poultry and egg industry has been dealing with an outbreak of bird flu since last year. In 2022, approximately 58 million birds, mainly chickens and turkeys, were culled as a preventive measure to combat the spread of the virus. This mass cull had a significant impact on egg and turkey prices, causing concern in both the industry and consumers. Read more
