A killer bird flu outbreak has hit multiple farms in Arizona – and the variant has wiped out millions of birds from one of the United States’s largest egg producers.
Chickens at Hickman Farms in Buckeye, Arizona began showing symptoms at the end of May.
The initial loss was estimated at 1.1 million birds, but just two weeks after the flock got sick, 6 million have died. That accounted for about 95 percent of Hickman Farms’ bird population.
CEO Glenn Hickman held a press conference on May 30 to address the situation. To him, the loss was entirely preventable.
‘If our pullets had been vaccinated when we started lobbying the federal government in January, our pullets would have been saved by now,’ he said.
Hickman and Hickman Family farms have been advocating for access to avian flu vaccines since January. According to the company’s website, which addresses the situation, the U.S. government makes a vaccine, but only uses it as an export.
‘European countries have now been vaccinating their flocks for a couple of years and are gaining the upper hand on controlling this disease. That vaccine is actually made here in the U.S., but we export to other countries while our flocks go unprotected.’
The site encourages customers to contact their representatives in a continued push for access to vaccination.
CEO Glenn Hickman said that the tragic loss of millions of his chickens was preventable
Pictured: Hickman’s Family Farms plant, one of the biggest egg producers in the country
‘The quicker we can start vaccinating our nation’s poultry flock, the quicker we can get back to normalized operations,’ said Hickman.
Hickman Farms is just the largest of several that have been affected in Arizona.
On June 2, the Arizona Department of Agriculture confirmed that another farm in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area was placed under quarantine. The farm still remains unnamed, but per their press release, poultry began showing symptoms on May and tested positive on May 30.
Hickman farms took similar measures to prevent spread, but now is focused on repopulating their farm. According to Hickman, the process of de-populating, cleaning and re-populating will take almost two years. They process will begin in just a few weeks.
In the mean time, Hickman Farms has stopped operations. Hundreds of their 850 employees are out of the job – many of whom are contract workers and inmates. Fortunately, some employees will still be needed during the cleaning process.
Customers of Hickman farms and other affected farms in Arizona do not need to be worried about contracting bird flu through consumption. The AZDA wrote in a press release on May 20 that eggs from chickens who tested positive have not entered food supply.
‘There have been no signs of illness in humans,’ they wrote.
‘Consumers in Arizona and around the nation can remain confident in the safety and quality of eggs and egg products.’
Pictured: Chickens inside Hickman’s Family Farms
According to CDC numbers, only 70 human cases of bird flu have been reported in the past 14 months, including one death. The AZDA and the CDC said that humans at highest risk are those who have worked directly with affected poultry.
Because of the outbreak, Arizona’s Family reports that for the first time in 81 Hickman Farms will be unable to satisfy all of their customer demand. The company is looking for alternative ways to meet their needs.
Not everyone is upset about the decline in operations. 12 News reports that nearby residents are happy to be rid of the stench that comes with operating a chicken farm. According to Fox 10, locals and environmental activists sued Hickman Farms in 2018 for polluting the area.
Daily Mail reached out to Hickman Family Farms and the Arizona Department of Agriculture for comment.
