Nearly a million hens are culled at America's second-largest egg producer as the biggest US bird flu outbreak grows

The USDA confirmed that 934,600 birds were hit at Rose Acre Farms outside Germantown in Clinton County, Illinois. There is no treatment for the virus, so every infected and exposed hen must be killed. Minnesota has the next-worst toll at 168,880 birds. Shoppers could now face fewer eggs and higher prices, as happened in 2024 when the disease sent costs soaring.

More than 210 million US birds have died or been culled since February 2022.

Following the 2024 wave, the average price of a dozen cage-free eggs had climbed to $5.26 by January.

The USDA calls the H5N1 strain 'a major threat to the poultry industry'.