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Farmers Must Kill 4.2 Million Chickens After Bird Flu Hits Iowa Egg Farm

More than 4 million chickens in Iowa will have to be killed after a case of the highly pathogenic bird flu was detected at a large egg farm, the state announced Tuesday.

Crews are in the process of killing 4.2 million chickens after the disease was found at a farm in Sioux County, Iowa, making it the latest in a yearslong outbreak that now is affecting dairy cattle as well. Last week, the virus was confirmed at an egg farm west of Minneapolis, leading to the slaughter of nearly 1.4 million chickens.

Overall, 92.34 million birds have been killed since the outbreak began in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Although bird flu has become somewhat common among poultry, its spread to cattle has added to worries about the disease. In May, a second dairy farmworker was diagnosed with bird flu, and the virus was detected in both beef and milk. It has been confirmed on dairy cattle farms in nine states.

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1,100 Pigs Just Got Delivered

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1,100 pigs showed up today, and every empty pen in this barn is full by dark. The semi backs in, the chute drops, and it's all hands sorting pigs down the aisles until the whole barn is wall to wall. And that's only half the day. The other delivery is a brand new CAT 275 skid steer, and Tork gets to drive it off the flatbed first. New pigs, new iron, and a barn that goes from empty and washed to full and loud in one afternoon. This is what a big day on a pig farm looks like.