Largest Egg Producer in Southwest Shutdown: What to Know
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Bird flu has wiped nearly all of Hickman's Family Farms' chickens in Arizona, forcing the Southwest's largest egg producer to cut staff and begin rebuilding its flock—a process expected to take about two years, the company's President and CEO Glenn Hickman told Newsweek in a Saturday phone call.
Newsweek has also reached out to several agricultural economics experts for comment via email on Saturday morning.
Why It Matters
Bird flu across the United States has impacted around 173 million poultry, 13,000 wild birds, and over 1,000 dairy herds, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There have been 70 reported human cases, including one death. The CDC, however, maintains that the public health risk is low.
The flu is not just an agricultural issue, as it has far-reaching implications for public health and the economy, including egg prices and availability, as well as farm sustainability and employment.
Hickman's Family Farms has several bird operations across Arizona as well as smaller ones Colorado. The farm, founded in 1944, is the largest egg company in the Southwest, and the top 20 in the country.
What To Know
"Our hens began showing symptoms consistent with avian influenza on May 15 and were confirmed the next day," Hickman said at a Friday news conference.
Despite efforts to contain the outbreak, it spread to all of the farm's west side facilities, ultimately wiping out 95 percent of its chicken population, around 6 million chickens, he told Newsweek.
The farm has ordered baby chicks and expects to house its first new hens in about five months, with full repopulation projected to take around two years, Hickman said.
The loss of its flock will result in layoffs and force at least a pause, if not an end, to its 30-year inmate rehabilitation program, which has provided thousands of incarcerated men and women with work experience. The farm has around 850 employees, with manyexpected to be cut; however, Hickman told Newsweek that they are short on labor as they are "rapidly trying to euthanize everything to try and stop the virus from spreading," as well as removing them.
Bird Flu Incubation and Vaccination
"The incubation period for this is 14 days," Hickman told Newsweek, adding that "when you have one positive on one farm, all the birds are presumed to be positive, so you have to start depopulating the whole farm."
Hickman called upon the government to provide access to a poultry vaccine, saying at the press conference that it's "the only viable solution to gain control of this highly infectious virus."
He added: "We need to be able to start giving it to our flocks and the quicker that we can start vaccinating our nation's poultry flock, the quicker that we can get back to normalized operations."
In February, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued Zoetis conditional license for its "Avian Influenza Vaccine, H5N2 Subtype, Killed Virus." Hickman's Family Farms "buy vaccines from Zoetis all the time," for other diseases, Hickman told Newsweek, adding that "they're not able to sell us yet, because it hasn't been released for sale. So, whether it's been approved or not is immaterial, we can't get it."
The vaccine requires a schedule starting with baby chicks.
A spokesperson for Zoetis told Newsweek in an email: "In the US, the distribution and use of avian influenza vaccines are controlled by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Veterinary Services (VS). This agency oversees the authorization for manufacturing firms to sell and distribute these vaccines as part of an official USDA animal disease control program. Therefore, USDA APHIS VS authorization is required to sell and distribute AI vaccines in the U.S."
Newsweek has reached out to the APHIS for comment via email on Saturday.
Hickman pointed to the apparent lag in vaccine rollout as efforts by the "meat bird industry" lobbying, which he says "doesn't want us [the egg industry] to protect our flock."
It is unclear why not as many meat poultry farms have been less affected by bird flu, with Hickman suggesting that it could be due to the fact that they harvest their birds at around five to six weeks of age, whereas the Hickman Family Farms' hens are grown for about two years old.
The USDA has also pledged to rebuild a stockpile of bird flu vaccines. However, earlier this week, the Trump administration canceled a $766 million agreement with Moderna that was dedicated to developing vaccines for potential pandemic influenza viruses, including the H5N1 bird flu.
Crystal Adams, wearing orange to identify her as a prison worker, inspects eggs as she works as an order runner at Hickman's Family Farm egg-packaging operation in Tonopah, Arizona, on March 14, 2024.
Crystal Adams, wearing orange to identify her as a prison worker, inspects eggs as she works as an order runner at Hickman's Family Farm egg-packaging operation in Tonopah, Arizona, on March 14, 2024.
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
What People Are Saying
David Ortega, professor of food economics and policy at Michigan State University, told Newsweek in an email: "This is a very unfortunate situation and a stark reminder that the bird flu outbreak is still wreaking havoc on the poultry industry. The closure of Hickman's Family Farms...will have an outsized impact on egg prices and availability in the region... While national impacts may be more limited in the near term, this adds pressure to an already stressed egg supply chain.
He added: "What's especially concerning is that these disruptions are unfolding at a time when the federal government is pulling back support for research and critical disease response efforts. Cuts under the Trump administration have disrupted the USDA's ability to respond swiftly to outbreaks like this....All of this underscores how vulnerable our food system remains and why investments in biosecurity and disease preparedness are more important than ever."
Animal rights activist group Animal Outlook told Arizona's Family outlet: "This is great news for chickens! A two-year shutdown of Hickman's Eggs represents a victory for the hens who would have been crammed into the company's imposing sheds and reduced to egg-producing machines, and for the millions of male chicks who would have been ground up alive or suffocated simply for being born the wrong sex in an industry that has no use for them. We urge Hickman's to use this time to consider a transition away from animal agriculture and toward more sustainable, ethical, and innovative practices."
Dr. Gail Hansen, who served for 12 years as the state epidemiologist and public health veterinarian for Kansas, said in a mid-May statement to Newsweek: "It's a welcome relief for many Americans that egg prices have finally begun to drop, but this is unfortunately not the end of the story. Bird flu remains a major threat that will strike again—as long as factory farms continue to dominate our poultry market. By cramming together tens of thousands of chickens, corporations have created the perfect conditions to supercharge this recent bird flu outbreak, and which will inevitably do so again."
What Happens Next?
"Our national flock has the capacity of about 330 million, so losing ours will have some effect, but I don't think it will have a material effect," Hickman said about egg prices nationwide.
In April, egg prices fell for the first time since October, but they remain elevated, with the average price for a dozen at about $5.12—up from around $2.87 last April, a 78 percent increase, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
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