New York farmers and consumers are still feeling the effects of a persistent avian flu outbreak that began in 2022. The highly contagious virus has led to mass poultry culls, supply chain disruptions, and soaring egg prices across the state and the nation. Amy Barkley, a livestock specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension, says it mutated when wild waterfowl were infected.
"In February of 2022, we saw a low pathogenic strain of an avian influenza virus mutating in wild waterfowl into a highly pathogenic strain of avian flu virus," Barkley explained. What that means, she said, "is essentially it's taken a virus that doesn't do much but stay in the wild bird population, maybe cause a little bit of subclinical disease in birds and made it really highly catchable between birds and made it highly deadly."
"If a farm has birds that are sick, they will be euthanized to help stop the spread of the disease. While some folks think that this may be inhumane, it actually is helpful to keep the disease contained on that property, and most birds that contract the disease will die within 24 to 48 hours anyway."Amy Barkley Livestock Specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension
Because the virus is classified as a foreign animal disease, federal regulations require infected flocks to be euthanized to contain the spread. While necessary to protect other flocks, this measure has had major economic consequences for farmers and consumers alike.
If a farm has birds that are sick," Barkely said "they will be euthanized to help stop the spread of the disease. While some folks think that this may be inhumane, it actually is helpful to keep the disease contained on that property, and most birds that contract the disease will die within 24 to 48 hours anyway."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that more than 136 million birds have been affected since the outbreak began. With fewer hens laying eggs, prices have reached record highs, with some regions seeing a dozen eggs cost as much as $7.50.
Chicken meat prices, however, have remained more stable due to differences in poultry production cycles.
"An average meat chicken is going to take five to eight weeks to grow from chick to processing age, a duck is about eight weeks and a turkey is about 20 weeks."Amy Barkley Livestock Specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension
"With birds like chickens, we call them broilers, turkeys, ducks. Their life cycle is much less. So, an average meat chicken is going to take five to eight weeks to grow from chick to processing age, a duck is about eight weeks and a turkey is about 20 weeks. So, it's a much shorter period, much faster turnaround, and so those birds, while affected, they're not going to have as big of an impact on the pricing," Barkley explained.
An egg laying chicken will take between 6 and 9 months to reach full productivity.
Consumers looking to save money on eggs may be tempted to buy in bulk or purchase from local farms right now. However, when egg prices eventually drop, Barkley urges people continue supporting those same local farmers.
"Those farmers are taking a lot of their time, a lot of their resources to build up their layer flocks for you. That is a huge investment for them and to have their market fall out from under them when things return to normal isn't fair," she said.
As for when prices may return to normal, Barkley says it depends on the rate of new outbreaks.
"We need at least probably a year to recover once we have our last avian flu case in layers to get prices back where they were," Barkley forecasted, then warned, "As long as we keep having outbreaks, though, that's going to extend that timeline."
Meanwhile, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has launched an online reporting tool for suspected avian flu cases in wild birds. Reports help officials track the virus and mitigate its spread among domestic and wild bird populations. The reporting tool is available at dec.ny.gov.
