‘Not enough eggs’: Hickman’s Ranch owner on loss of 1 million hens to bird flu

By Gina Mejias, Special to InBuckeye

Hickman’s Family Farms, the largest egg company headquartered in Buckeye and one of the top producers nationwide, is trying to stay strong during the current H5 bird flu outbreak.

Since the bird flu arrived in the U.S. in 2015, Hickman’s Family Farms has constantly been upgrading its biosecurity measures. But a new outbreak that began in Arizona in November has the business and its egg ranch in Buckeye scrambling.

When the bird flu became endemic in the wild bird population, Hickman’s began using non-lethal defenses — air cannons, lasers and bright ribbons — to discourage birds from contaminating the farms. A virucide was used to eliminate airborne viruses.

Yet Hickman’s lost 1.1 million chickens. The farmers are running out of new ideas to implement, said Glenn Hickman, owner of Hickman’s Family Farms. 

“These birds have been dying off and on from February 2022, so that’s the tragedy for us,” Hickman, 63, told InBuckeye.

Eggs are a staple of the American diet. To meet the domestic demand for eggs, there should be 330 million healthy birds on American farms. But there are only about 275 million birds right now, Hickman said. 

“There are simply not enough eggs to get to everybody,” Hickman said. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reimburses businesses for the value of the lost flock. But it doesn’t compensate for the lost sales revenue, which can economically impact businesses such as Hickman’s.

Even with the loss of revenue, Hickman’s Family Farms has not laid anybody off.

“We still have the same amount of people working.” Hickman said. “These facilities are massive, right? And it’s eerie all of a sudden, not a damn chicken.” 

Hickman’s Family Farms requires workers to shower before and after their shifts, keep private vehicles off company lots and use sanitizing hoops for vehicles that enter the property in order to reduce the chance of transferring the bird flu to humans.

If a human gets infected, the Pinal County Public Health Department must monitor the patient and make sure symptoms are treated appropriately. 

However, there is an end in sight.

A vaccine engineered to combat bird flu in landfowl has been conditionally approved by the USDA, according to a statement from Zoetis, the company that created the vaccine.

“I’m grateful that we have a vaccine and there seems to be a push to use it,” Hickman said. “It seems like it’s a smarter idea to vaccinate the animals, so we don’t have to vaccinate the people.”