1y ago

More than 4 million chickens to be killed in Iowa after officials detect bird flu on farm

www.cbsnews.com

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1y ago

More than 4 million chickens to be killed in Iowa after officials detect bird flu on farm

www.cbsnews.com /news/millions-chickens-to-be-killed-bird-flu-detected-iowa-farm/

33 comments

- Well, if you consider farming torture, which I assume you do from the context, then four million chickens are about to stop.
  
  Farming is plants. Ranching is animals.
"a" flock, the article says. One farm with millions of chickens?
That's bananas
- No, the article makes it quite clear that they are chickens, not bananas, despite being yellow, they are both quite different
  
  Wow, you took a risky comedy swing and 13 people upvoted you so far.
  Grats. That's bananas.
- Yeah, each broiler house can hold ~20-50k chickens (depending on size). A few million chickens is a pretty large operation. Most farms around here have about 20 houses max.
  
  ...why is the place where chickens are raised and kept called a "broiler" house?
  
  Dang, thanks. That's boggling
Did you notice it says 'farm'? Not 'farms'?
4 million chicken in ONE farm...!
- It's the American way. And it sucks.
I'm sure any and all chicken producers will use it as an excuse to keep increasing prices.
- Those two don't have to exclude each other! Think of the profits!!
Y’know eating less meat will help save the planet.
Because the water, power, and pollution expended would be less.
The Dispatch reported that the entire flock will be culled, with the remains isolated, to help prevent further spread.
Kind of unfortunate that they can't figure out which ones got sick and cull just those. Would be nice to move towards chickens that are more-resistant to the flu, but that can't happen unless the vulnerable ones are selected against in terms of survival. An across-the-board cull doesn't do that.
- Do we know the infection transmission method of this virus? Presumably if they knew they wouldn’t have to cull the whole facility right?
  
  It's the flu, a respiratory disease.
  There may be other vectors (like raw milk), but airborne is going to be the main route for birds.
  Might be the case that some places have multiple buildings and can keep some chickens away from others. I don't know whether that's enough isolation.
Aw come on, that's a lot of wings, if we promise to cook them well, can you drop off some to my house?
- Even aside from those particular birds, the shortage of chicken and eggs from bird flu has driven prices way up. Fewer wings to go around, so parties bid up what's available.
  Wikioedia: 2020–2024 H5N1 outbreak
  Since 2020, global outbreaks of avian influenza subtype H5N1 have been occurring, with cases reported from every continent as of May 2024.
  Here's a graph showing chicken meat prices in the US since 2020:
  https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU0000FF1101
  And here's one showing eggs:
  https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/APU0000708111

33 comments