Maybe ham will be on the table in many Michigan homes this Thanksgiving

 

Photo credit:  The Humane League

Headline:  mlive, 1/3/2025

In addition to being home of the whackjobs otherwise known as Ottawa Impact, Ottawa County produces 70% of Michigan's turkeys.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza is a contagious virus that spreads easily from flock to flock through wild birds, contact with infected animals, farm equipment and on farmworkers’ clothing. If a farm detects one sick bird, the entire flock must be depopulated, or killed, to contain the spread of the virus. 

Since it started spreading in January 2022, the virus has impacted nearly 130 million birds on poultry farms – making it the deadliest bird flu in U.S. history. 

In Michigan, it’s been detected at 14 commercial farms and 27 backyard flocks, affecting more than 7 million birds. Most of those were from Herbruck's Poultry Ranch, the state’s largest egg producer, which depopulated 6.5 million hens after finding a sick bird in April 2024.

Which begs the question:  What do you do with 6,500,000 'depopulated' chickens?

North Carolina Health News has a suggestion.

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