Major Egg Producer Detects Bird Flu, Must Kill Nearly 2 Million Chickens

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. 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. The company is “required” to kill the birds, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said in a statement. Cal-Maine Foods is halting production at the facility in order to comply with protocols from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The firm said it is working to secure eggs and meat from other facilities “to minimize disruption to its customers.”...