Bird Flu In Iowa Flock Worried?

Ok is anyone worried about the bird flu in that very large flock in Iowa?

"The facility houses 3.8 million hens, according to the company, which sells eggs to food manufacturers, government agencies and retailers."

I would say eggs are going to get more expensive. I have some dry eggs purchased in 2007 and they are were to last 7 years. But I am keeping them due to the fact they are in a very cool basement.

We could be looking at a shortage of chicken and eggs guys. I am going to do a little stocking up of chicken.   

This strain of bird flu doesn't affect people (yet) - H5N2 to date isn't contagious to humans, meat/eggs safe to eat if prepared properly etc.

The flock has a reported 5.3 million birds - it's 3% of the total USA egg production gone...one farm! I can't imagine the lives those poor birds had - in cages they can hardly turn around in, feed measured to the 'ideal' so they don't get an ounce of fat on them to hinder laying...never see the light of day, lay in the warmth of the sun, or have a good roll in dust to have a bath... we wonder why these bugs are mutating/spreading the way they are - maybe someone is trying to tell us something!!!

http://www.13wmaz.com/story/news/2015/04/21/avian-flu-crisis-grows-for-poultry-producers-throughout-usa/26120483/

I think we're a long way from this having any effect on food prices. I think it will reduce exports before anything else.

This is a quote from "ThePoultrySite.com"

"US broiler slaughter in 2014 was 8.5 billion head and in the larger context the depopulation of one or even several bird houses will have a very limited supply impact. At this point, HPAI is not comparable to the PEDv in hogs last year, which reduced slaughter numbers by several percentage points."

So even if we cull 8 million birds, we're still talking less than one tenth of one percent!

To read the entire article, see:

http://www.thepoultrysite.com/poultrynews/34851/whats-been-the-bird-flu-impact-in-the-us-so-far/

HI Arirish - good article. It looks like egg prices might go up (3% of layers lost on that one farm)especially if more flocks affected, but that meat prices may go down - at least for a while as so many export markets have shut off imports from USA (which I find kind of ironic considering this Eurasian strain originate at least the new part of it in asia!) anyway... This might be a good time to stock up on chicken meat - as much as you can freeze, can, jerky etc???


Will the Cases of HPAI Limit US Exports and What Does this Mean for Chicken Prices in the Domestic Market?

February broiler exports were down 17.4 per cent and we think some of this was due to bans put in place following cases of HPAI in a number of states.

The most prominent case is China, which banned all US chicken imports but exports to a number of smaller markets also were down significantly. Exports accounted for 19 per cent of US chicken production last year so the loss of exports is a much more significant factor than any loss in supply due to HPAI. USDA currently projects chicken exports to drop 8.5 per cent compared to a year ago. Half of that, however, is due to the lack of access to the Russian market.

If China remains closed at least until June, it would explain another 2 per cent of the annual reduction. But exports to other markets are down sharply as well.

A strong US dollar and poultry expansion in other large exporting countries also will present significant headwinds for US chicken in 2015. The number to remember is 6 per cent - this is the increase in per capita consumption forecast for 2015. Any downward revisions to export forecast will further increase product availability in the domestic market. We are asking the US consumer to eat more chicken and pork (the extra supply needs to be used up) and lower prices are needed to clear the market.

Again, CostCo cooked chickens are still a good value and always safe to eat - unless we come up with Mad Chicken Disease. I agree though. Stock up on the raw ones now but consume them early and replenish them frequently as they only keep a year or so frozen, depending on how well they're vacuum packed if at all. These viruses appear to be flooding the America's all of a sudden. We knew this was coming.

When I was about ten, while camping at Big Bear Calif, my dad pulled out of the camper a ten year old canned whole chicken and actually it wasn't all that bad. Haven't seen one since. That's a good idea:

Minnesota declares state of emergency over bird flu in poultry
By P.J. Huffstutter
CHICAGO | Thu Apr 23, 2015 7:42pm EDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Minnesota declared a state of emergency on Thursday over a fast-spreading strain of avian flu that has led to the extermination of more than 7.3 million birds in the country. It followed Wisconsin's action on Monday.

The highly pathogenic H5N2 strain of bird flu has been identified on 46 Minnesota farms in 16 counties and affected more than 2.6 million birds in the state.

State health officials said they were expediting prescriptions for the antiviral drug Tamiflu for farm workers and others who have been in direct contact with infected flocks. No human infections have been reported in this outbreak.

"There's no reason for anybody in the state of Minnesota to be concerned about their own health," Governor Mark Dayton said at a press conference on Thursday after declaring the state of emergency.



http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0NE2JP20150423?irpc=932