The Bird flu outbreak isn’t over, but it’s less severe, helping egg and poultry prices recover

By JOSH FUNK
Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nearly 5 million chickens, turkeys and other birds have been slaughtered this year because of a persistent bird flu outbreak that began in 2022, but as big as that number may sound, it’s far less than the number of birds killed last year and that means consumers generally aren’t seeing as much impact on poultry and egg prices. Some 4.6 million birds have been slaughtered this year, but that’s small compared to the nearly 58 million birds the Agriculture Department said were killed in the first year of the outbreak. There have been fewer cases this year because fewer wild birds are testing positive so they might be developing some immunity plus farmers have been working hard to keep the virus out.