The fire occurred at New Zealand’s largest egg farm.
QUICK FACTS:
- 50,000 hens were killed after a fire broke out at New Zealand’s largest egg farm in Orini.
- The number of hens killed was originally reported to be 75,000 across four sheds, but the company later determined around 50,000 hens were killed across two sheds.
- It is unclear how the fire started.
- Zeagold Nutrition chief executive John McKay said the remaining hens are in “good health” and that the company is “working hard to continue to supply eggs and get back to full capacity as soon as possible.”
- The losses comprise 1.4% of the layer hen population, a percentage that “won’t have a significant impact on egg supply,” McKay added.
- Executive director of the Egg Producers Federation Michael Brooks had a less optimistic reaction to the fire, saying, “Egg supplies are tight, so this will not assist in any way.”
- Since the country banned battery farming, where hens are caged, New Zealand has experienced multiple egg shortages. Although the ban started in 2012, the final prohibition against battery farming significantly affected the egg industry.
- New Zealand farmers noted prior to the fire that the country needed another 300,000 hens to combat the national egg shortage.
NEW ZEALAND FIRE FOLLOWS AMERICAN EGG SUPPLIER FIRE:
- Hillandale Farms, one of the largest U.S. egg suppliers, lost an estimated 100,000 chickens from a fire in Bozrah, Connecticut.
- The global increase in egg farm fires coincides with a decreased egg output from surviving hens.
- American Faith reported that chicken farmers are blaming commercial feed for the lack of eggs in an already severe egg shortage.
- “Everybody who has been feeding their chickens this type of feed has stopped getting eggs altogether,” one farmer said. “So people who aren’t able to let their chickens free range, aren’t getting any eggs. Kinda convenient when eggs are the price of… gold at this point?”
- The farmer went on to explain that when she allowed her chickens to free-range, the chickens began laying eggs again.
BACKGROUND:
- American Faith reported that a peer-reviewed study from 2020 revealed that eggs protect against COVID-19 infection.
- With a 75.86% success rate, egg yolk antibodies in hens were successful at preventing the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
- The scientists in the study noted that developing an aerosol spray for the “respiratory tract, the oral cavity, and even the digestive tract” may be a “worthwhile strategy” in preventing infection.
