Bird flu devastates 7.4 million Pennsylvania chickens in a month

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Reuters

February 27, 2026 4:26 PM EST Updated 11 hours ago


CHICAGO, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Bird flu has wiped out 7.4 million chickens in Pennsylvania in the past month, a swift and devastating loss that veterinarians and industry members suspect may be linked to an unusually cold winter.

Infections of flocks raised to produce eggs and meat extend a U.S. outbreak that began four years ago and has eliminated 196 million birds nationwide. The virus, often spread by wild birds, has also infected U.S. farm workers and poultry and mammals across the planet.

"We are obviously in crisis mode," Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said at a public forum this week, noting that cases were occurring "dramatically earlier in the season than what we expected."

Wild birds, including snow geese, that spent the winter in Pennsylvania were suspected to be the source of outbreaks in poultry, Shannon Powers, spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, said in an email. Pennsylvania is the fourth-largest egg-producing state.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/bird-flu-devastates-74-million-pennsylvania-chickens-month-2026-02-27/

[SleeplessinSoCal]

1. Waiting on complaints about the price of Eggs.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. I knew it was coming because the past couple weeks, NJ reported THOUSANDS of dead Canada geesse

They expect it was due to a 2 week period of bitter cold in the PA/NJ/DE area, forcing wild birds to congregate much more closely on frozen rivers/ponds, and thus helping to spread the disease. The Canada geese tend to hang around here during winter, so not much "normal" migration during warm winters. But this winter was a shock, and they apparently got caught not leaving in time.

So it was only a matter of time for this to happen to the domesticated birds.

And ironically, I was just at the supermarket yesterday morning and snagged a sale of 30 eggs for $3.99, lower than the lowest that I had taken advantage of back in late summer 2024, when there was a sale for $4.99 for 30.

But in between this period, eggs were running $6.99 - $7.99 a dozen around here.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

5. Meanwile....

We have a record breaking heat wave. Our poor fauna is very confused. But as Mad King Don has taken us to war, everything is going to be more expensive, or simply not there anymore.

[Javaman]

3. the price of eggs and the bird flu jump to humans.

we are truly living in the best of times.

[modrepub]

4. Lancaster County

Was wondering where. Lots of snow geese migrate through there (Middle Creek SP). These are largely huge commercial farms with lots of chickens in a warehouse type buildings. There are also similar large scale operations in surrounding counties that will probably be impacted.

The only other large egg production area in Pennsylvania that I’m familiar with is in Mifflintown County NW of Harrisburg. Most of the chicken farms I’ve seen in the Big Valley are Amish run (Lancaster high Amish population but a different sect) but those chickens are allowed to roam outside; enjoyable to literally watch a thousand birds high tail it to the barn at feeding time. Not sure how these birds will fare since the spend a lot of time outside exposed to wild birds.