Weber’s company, Sunrise Farms, had to slaughter its entire flock of egg-laying hens — 550,000 birds — to prevent the disease from infecting other farms in Sonoma County
During the past two months, nearly a dozen commercial farms have had to destroy more than 1 million birds to control the outbreak (as of 27 Jan 24)
the current outbreak of the virus that began in early 2022 has prompted officials to slaughter nearly 82 million birds, mostly egg-laying chickens, in 47 U.S. states
In California, the outbreak has impacted more than 7 million chickens in about 40 commercial flocks and 24 backyard flocks
This is very relevant.
https://apnews.com/article/avian-flu-chicken-outbreak-california-poultry-eggs-976f0f82843bf716dbad64f459b4b8be
Also, shit: https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/01/texas-cows-bird-flu-human-infection/
The numbers are insane. Over a million chickens
Some (at least) were killed brutally. Gassed in the hen houses, panicking as they died, trying to peck their way out. Poor birds.
I don’t advise you to look up what they do when they find out a chick is a male.
That culling was more expensive than some newish process of like shining light through the eggs right?
Brutal fa sho
That’s just in Sonoma County, between Dec '23 and Jan '24.