An outbreak of bird flu is devastating California’s huge poultry industry, forcing companies to kill more than a million chickens and causing egg prices to skyrocket.
Mike Weber, owner of Sunrise Farms in Sonoma County, learned last month that his chickens had been infected with the highly contagious virus. According to government regulations, he had to slaughter his entire flock of 550,000 laying hens.
“It’s a trauma. “We are all going through pain as a result of this,” Weber told the Associated Press inside an empty chicken coop. “Petaluma is known as the egg basket of the world. “It’s devastating to see that basket of eggs go up in flames.”
More than a million chickens have been slaughtered in California due to the bird flu outbreak. AP
Bird flu is wreaking havoc in California a year after the disease caused egg prices to soar to record levels across the country due to a shortage following an outbreak in the Midwest.
Authorities have declared a state of emergency in Sonoma County, north of San Francisco, after nearly a dozen commercial farms killed more than a million birds to stem the outbreak over the past two months, devastating farmers. , workers and their clients.
Merced County in central California has also been hit hard, with outbreaks recently reported at several large commercial egg farms.
Avian flu is spread by ducks, geese and other migratory birds. While waterfowl can carry the virus without getting sick, they easily transmit the disease to poultry through their droppings and nasal secretions, experts say.
A worker moves boxes of eggs at the Sunrise Farms processing plant in Petaluma, California. AP
State Veterinarian Annette Jones urged farmers to keep their flocks indoors until June, including organic chickens that must have access to the outdoors.
“We still have migration for a couple more months. So we have to be as vigilant as possible to protect our birds,” said Bill Mattos, president of the California Poultry Federation.
The outbreak caused egg prices in the Bay Area to skyrocket during the holidays before eggs could be imported from other parts of the country.
This latest outbreak of the virus began in early 2022 and has led authorities to cull nearly 82 million birds, mostly laying hens, in 47 US states, according to the US Department of Agriculture It has spread to every inhabited continent except Australia, experts said.
Ettamarie Peterson holds a chicken on her farm in Petaluma. AP
The price of a dozen eggs more than doubled to $4.82 at its peak in January 2023. It returned to normal as farmers repopulated their flocks. Turkey and chicken prices also increased.
According to the USDA, the outbreak has affected more than 7 million chickens in about 40 commercial flocks and 24 backyard flocks in California. The majority occurred over the past two months in the North Coast and Central Valley regions of the state.
Ettamarie Peterson keeps 50 chickens that produce eggs that she sells in her backyard barn for 50 cents each.
“I am very concerned because this bird flu is transmitted by wild birds and there is no way to prevent wild birds from arriving and leaving the disease behind,” Peterson said.
Despite implementing strict biosecurity measures to protect his chickens, Weber’s flock at Sunrise Farms became infected before Christmas.
“The virus hit the birds so badly and so quickly that you would come in and the birds were just dead,” Weber said. “Heartbreaking doesn’t describe how you feel when you walk in and have just dropped off perfectly healthy young birds.”
He said he and his employees spent the last month cleaning and disinfecting the chicken coops.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn