A fire has resulted in the death of thousands of chickens at Forsman Farms in Minnesota on Saturday.
The exact number of egg-laying chickens lost to the fire is unknown but expected to be in the tens of thousands. First responders arrived at the scene off Highway 12 after 10 p.m.
“Overnight, a fire destroyed one of our barns at our Howard Lake farm. No one was injured and we are grateful that first responders were quickly on scene to put out the fire,” Forsman Farms spokesman Jon Austin said. “Unfortunately, chickens were lost because of the fire. We are evaluating the extent of the damage — which appears to be confined to a single structure — as well as investigating the cause of the fire.”
Officials revealed that there was extensive damage to property.
A Wright County egg producer is evaluating the damage left behind from a Saturday night fire. A Forsman Farms spokesperson said they do not have a firm number yet but he estimates at least tens of thousands of chickens were killed. https://t.co/JPkqaQqO6Y @kare11 pic.twitter.com/51F8gE4oea
— Heidi Wigdahl (@HeidiWigdahl) May 30, 2022
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The Wright County Sheriff’s Office is still investigating the cause of the fire. However, it is believed to be an accident. One sergeant reported that there were roughly 200,000 chickens in the affected farmhouse.
This comes almost two months after a wave of bird flu began, resulting in the deaths of 22 million egg-laying chickens.
“The index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs increased 14.3 percent over the last year, the largest 12-month increase since the period ending May 1979,” according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Most recently, the index for eggs increased 10.3% in April.
