Iowa egg, turkey farms to lose 5 million birds to bird flu

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Bird flu has infected two more farms in Iowa, forcing the killing of 5.3 million hens and 88,000 turkeys. The new cases reported Friday mean that across the nation, farmers have had to kill about 22 million egg-laying chickens, 1.8 million broiler chickens, 1.9 million pullet and other commercial chickens, and 1.9 million turkeys.

Iowa accounts for many of those cases, with operations having to kill more than 18 million chickens and 305,000 turkeys since the outbreaks began a month ago. Iowa is the nation’s leading egg producer and had 46 million chickens on farms in February. Iowa raises about 11.7 million turkeys annually.

The latest cases were at an egg farm in Osceola County and a turkey farm in Cherokee County, both in northwest Iowa.