With the discovery of bird flu on a Pennsylvania egg farm, more than 20 million egg-laying hens have died in outbreaks of the viral disease this year, according to USDA data released on Monday. Wholesale prices for eggs were at least $1 higher per dozen than a year ago, with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) as a factor.
The egg farm in southeastern Pennsylvania with 1.44 million hens was the 11th hit by “high path” bird flu. Four outbreaks in Iowa, the No. 1 egg producer, have killed 12.7 million of the 20.2 million layers lost nationwide. Wisconsin was second with 2.7 million hens killed.
The average price for a dozen large eggs was $2.95 last week, according to a USDA egg report. Egg prices traditionally rise ahead of Easter but analysts say bird flu played a role. There were 390 million hens in the U.S. laying flock before HPAI was identified on egg farms, and deaths amount to slightly more than 5 percent of the U.S. total.
Bird flu also has killed 3.9 million turkeys. Total losses among domestic flocks, including broiler chickens, ducks, pullets, and upland game birds, were 28.9 million birds.
More than 50 million birds, mostly chickens and turkeys, died in a 2014-15 HPAI epidemic, with 211 commercial operations affected.
There have been 131 outbreaks among commercial flocks this year and it could be mid-June before the threat subsides with the arrival of warm weather, if the epidemic of seven years ago is a guide. HPAI is spread by migrating wild birds and their droppings but it also can be carried by contaminated vehicles, equipment and clothing. Poultry farms employ biosecurity precautions such as limiting access to their barns or requiring workers to wear a separate set of clothes on the job.
Poultry industry losses are prompting a re-evaluation of vaccinating domestic birds against HPAI, an idea that was rejected in the past as too expensive and difficult to undertake, reported Wired: “The US Department of Agriculture is supporting research projects to develop vaccines for the particular strains of flu that are most destructive in chickens.”
HPAI also is killing birds in the wild. A USDA database listed 665 deaths, including bald eagles, a great horned owl, geese, a tundra swan, ducks, Cooper’s hawks and black vultures.