Over the past few years there has been a concerning trend of chicken farms being destroyed across the United States. From barn fires to blown up processing plants, the chicken industry has faced catastrophic losses. But just how many chicken facilities have been impacted? Let’s take a look at the alarming statistics.
Frequent Chicken Farm Fires
Barn fires have become an increasingly common occurrence at chicken farms. The Animal Welfare Institute has compiled barn fire statistics by state, providing insight into just how many chickens are dying in blazes.
In 2024 alone, over 1.5 million farmed animals were killed in barn fires. The vast majority were chickens. States like North Carolina, Maryland, Illinois, and Iowa faced especially devastating fires last year. For example:
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In July 2024 a fire in California killed approximately 70,000 chickens.
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In April 2024 a barn fire in Illinois killed around 1.2 million chickens.
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In March 2024, over 5 million chickens died in a fire in Iowa.
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In November 2024, around 20,000 chickens perished in a North Carolina blaze.
Barn fires don’t just impact egg-laying hens. Meat chickens, turkeys, and other poultry are also frequent victims. Fire risks are increased by overcrowded barns, insufficient fire safety measures, and wooden barn structures. The frequency of fires shows more work is needed to protect birds on farms.
Blown Up Processing Plants
In addition to barn fires, full-scale processing plants with tens of thousands of chickens have been destroyed in explosions. For example:
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In February 2024, the Shearer’s Foods plant in Oregon exploded. While no exact numbers were given, the large facility processed chicken for major brands.
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Also in February 2024, a Bonanza Meat Company plant in Texas went up in flames. Again, no totals given but the plant processed chickens.
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In August 2024, a Taylor Farms plant in California burned down. The plant processed chicken products.
While the causes are still under investigation, these massive processing plant explosions result in huge chicken losses. They also disrupt the supply chain and operations.
Mass Depopulations
Even without fires or explosions, some chicken farm operators have been forced to kill millions of birds in mass depopulations:
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In April 2024, an Iowa facility killed over 5 million chickens and fired hundreds of workers as it closed down.
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Also in April 2024, Allen Harim Foods killed nearly 2 million birds at its Delaware facility.
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In May 2024, over 3 million chickens were destroyed at a Minnesota farm.
Depopulations result from disease outbreaks, financial issues, and other factors. But the sudden loss of millions of chickens further displays issues in the industry.
Hundreds of Thousands of Turkeys Impacted Too
Alongside chickens, turkeys raised on farms have also been impacted by fires, explosions, and mass depopulations over the past few years. A few examples:
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In March and April of 2024, over 600,000 turkeys were destroyed in Minnesota alone due to barn fires and depopulations.
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In May 2024, over 100,000 turkeys were killed in South Dakota fires and depopulations.
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Fires in Wisconsin and North Carolina also killed thousands of turkeys in 2024.
Key Takeaways
The number of chickens and turkeys killed in U.S. farm incidents is shockingly high:
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Barn fires frequently destroy thousands to millions of birds at a time.
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Processing plant explosions result in huge chicken losses.
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Mass depopulation events eradicate millions of chickens.
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Fires also impact turkeys on farms by the hundreds of thousands.
More needs to be done to protect the wellbeing of these animals and stabilize the poultry supply chain. But the data makes it clear – an alarming number of chickens, turkeys, and birds have died on U.S. farms in recent years due to largely preventable incidents. More oversight, updated infrastructure, and proactive steps could reduce the frequency of poultry farm catastrophes moving forward.
Too Indemnified to Fail: How Payments Can Incentivize Risk
The indemnity system was designed to incentivize producers to adopt practices that help curb the spread of the virus. As APHIS states, the payments are intended to “encourage prompt reporting of certain high consequence livestock and poultry diseases and to incentivize private biosecurity investment.” Biosecurity measures include a range of practices to prevent disease outbreaks, from latching dumpster lids and disinfecting equipment to more expensive measures, like installing netting and screens on barns to deter wild birds.
These biosecurity measures are especially critical given that H5N1 is most commonly introduced to poultry flocks through wild birds, according to a 2023 epidemiology analysis conducted by APHIS. The virus’s transmission from wild birds can happen either directly, or indirectly through contaminated feed, clothing and equipment.
By sheltering producers from risk, researchers have observed that indemnity payouts can, under some circumstances, inadvertently encourage lapses in biosecurity, enabling the spread of disease. And this can potentially create a system where farms are too indemnified to fail — the risks of operating a business highly susceptible to disease are absorbed by the government.
“What we are finding is that ‘unconditional indemnity’ disincentivizes livestock producers to adopt biosecurity because they know that if the disease strikes their system then they would be indemnified,” Asim Zia, a professor of public policy and computer science at the University of Vermont who researches livestock disease risk, tells Sentient. According to Zia, “unconditional indemnity” means indemnity payments with next-to-no requirements to qualify.
It remains to be seen whether APHIS’s new interim guidelines — which will require that some high-risk producers successfully pass a biosecurity audit prior to receiving indemnity — will be enough to remedy this issue and encourage producers to change. Unlike the previous system, the new audits will include a visual inspection of the premises, either virtually or in-person. However, the scope of the new rule is limited to large-scale commercial poultry facilities that have been previously infected with HPAI, or that are moving poultry onto a poultry farm in a “buffer zone,” a higher-risk region.
Other large-scale commercial facilities will still follow the earlier rule’s more lenient audit process. This requires an audit of a producers’ biosecurity plan on paper — not an inspection of the actual poultry farm — every two years. It has been remarkably easy for farmers to pass this audit: the failure rate of this program was zero, according to APHIS, which made it so there were effectively no strings attached to the payouts. And smaller-scale poultry operations are entirely off the hook, exempt from both rules, and even from developing a biosecurity plan.
In the past, APHIS has repeatedly bailed out many of the same poultry businesses, spending $227 million on indemnity payments to farms that have been infected with H5N1 multiple times. This has included 67 poultry businesses that have been affected at least twice, and 19 companies that have been infected at least three times, according to the agency’s own records.
APHIS has not released the names of the companies that have been repeatedly infected, though the indemnity payments provide a glimpse into this.
Take Cal-Maine Foods’ poultry farm in Farewell, Texas. On April 2, 2024, Texas’s Commissioner of Agriculture Sid Miller announced its flock tested positive for H5N1, requiring the culling of 1.6 million laying hens and 337,000 pullets. The very next day Cal-Maine Foods, headquartered in Mississippi, received an indemnity payment of $17 million for HPAI detected on the Texas operation, according to government spending data.
So many different farms have been destroyed
FAQ
How many chickens are slaughtered in the United States each day?
Every day in the U.S., around *24 million chickens* are slaughtered for meat, that’s over *9 billion chickens* each year. These numbers are staggering and almost impossible to fathom. Recently, we hosted a couple who work at a medium sized family poultry processing facility.
How many chicken farms are in the US today?
As of 2017, the most recent year for which data is available, there were 164,099 poultry farms in the U.S., according to the Department of Agriculture.Mar 27, 2024
How many chickens were destroyed in a Minnesota fire?
62–4/15/22 1,380 500 chickens were destroyed at an egg farm in Lancaster Minnesota Fire destroyed the nation’s leading independent distributor of organic food and healthy foods, Azure Standard, in Dufur, Oregon. Minnesota destroyed 339,000 turkeys between 64–4-19/22
How many chickens were wiped out at a Minnesota farm?
55—4/12/22 259,000 chickens were wiped out at a Minnesota farm. East Conway Beef &, Pork Meat Market, in conway, New Hampshire, is destroyed by fire on July 4, 1813. Plane crashes into Idaho’s Gem State Processing, Idaho potato, and food processing plants on July 14, 1922.
How many chickens were destroyed at an egg farm in Minnesota?
2,000,000 chickens were destroyed at an egg farm in Minnesota between 66–4/20/22 General Mills destroyed by plane crash on 4/21/22 Minnesota destroyed 197,000 turkeys between 68–4/22/22 Minnesota: 200,000 turkeys killed between 69–4/23/22 70–4/25/22 1,501,200 chickens destroyed at egg farm Cache, Utah
How many chickens were destroyed by a fire in North Carolina?
53–4/12/22 89 700 chickens destroyed on farm in Wayne, North Carolina 54–4/12/22 1,746,900 hens destroyed at an egg farm in Dixon Nebraska A Minnesota farm destroyed 259,000 chickens between 55–4/12/22 56–4/13/22 Fire destroys East Conway Beef & Pork Meat Market in Conway, New Hampshire.
How many chickens were destroyed at a farm in Colorado?
1 366 200 chickens were destroyed at a farm in Weld, Colorado between 76 and 4/29/22 13 800 chickens were destroyed at a farm in Sequoia, Oklahoma between 77 and 4/30/22 78–5/3/22 58,000 Turkeys destroyed Barron Wisconsin 79–5/3/22 118,900 Turkeys destroyed Beadle S Dakota Duck Farm Berks Pennsylvania: 80,000 ducks killed between 80–5/3/22
How many chickens were killed at an egg farm?
At the Cecil, Maryland, egg farm, 663,400 chickens were killed on October 28. 915,900 chickens were killed at a Taylor, Iowa, egg farm on September 29, 10 and 22. 2 750 700 chickens were killed at a Jefferson, Wisconsin, egg farm on March 31st, 14th, and 22nd.