Bird flu hits 5.3 million Iowa chickens; Hormel says turkey production down

The biggest avian flu outbreak yet — 5.3 million chickens — was confirmed Monday at an Iowa egg-laying operation, while Hormel Foods Corp. announced that flu-related bird losses will reduce its turkey production, putting pressure on profits.

The flu touched down in Osceola County, just southwest of Worthington, Minn., the first outbreak in Iowa’s egg industry, which is the nation’s largest. With 5.3 million hens set to die, the bird loss is massive — three times the combined 1.7 million turkey fatalities on 28 stricken Minnesota farms. Prior to this, the largest outbreak affected 310,000 at a Hormel-owned turkey farm in Meeker County.

“This is a large farm in Iowa, but not the largest,” said Randy Olson, executive director of the Iowa Poultry Association. Iowa has about 30 large egg operations, and the state has about 58 million hens. Thus, the Osceola farm represents about 9 percent of Iowa’s hen population.

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