Over the past few years, the United States has witnessed an astonishing and infuriating spectacle: the systematic culling of over 166 million poultry birds since 2022, all in the name of controlling highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). In late 2024 and early 2025 alone, more than 43 million chickens and turkeys were wiped out, with egg-laying hens bearing the brunt—108 million gone by March 2025. This isn’t just a number; it’s a catastrophe for farmers, a gut punch to struggling Americans, and a glaring example of government overreach run amok. Worst of all, the policy of slaughtering entire flocks over a few sick birds is as shortsighted as it is destructive, killing off the very animals that could secure a resilient future for our food supply.
The Staggering Numbers
The scale of this cull is hard to wrap your head around. In 2022, the HPAI outbreak kicked off, and since then, we’ve seen over 34 million birds culled in 2024 alone before a late-year surge added millions more. December 2024 and January 2025 were particularly brutal—41.4 million birds exterminated in eight weeks. Egg layers, the backbone of affordable protein, took the hardest hit, with over 20 million hens killed in that span alone. Turkeys haven’t escaped either, though they’re a smaller slice of the pie. All told, 166 million birds have been sacrificed, and the justification? A virus that often only sickens a tiny fraction of a flock before the government steps in with its kill-everything mandate.
A Genetic Blunder
Here’s where the policy goes from wasteful to downright foolish. Not every bird is equally vulnerable to HPAI—some have a natural resistance, the kind farmers have relied on for generations to breed stronger stock. When a few chickens get sick, those that stay standing are the ones you want to keep. They’re the future, the ones whose traits could make the next generation tougher. But the USDA’s approach—wipe out the whole flock if even one bird tests positive—throws that logic out the window. It’s like torching a forest to stop a single tree from rotting, taking the resilient with the weak. We’re not just losing birds; we’re losing the chance to build a poultry population that can stand up to disease without government babysitting.
And let’s not even entertain the vaccine push. Farmers are rightly skeptical—those shots could mask symptoms, let the virus fester, and cost a fortune while spooking trade partners who don’t want vaccinated meat. It’s a corporate handout dressed up as science, and it’s the last thing our independent producers need.
The Human Cost
Beyond the genetics, the body count is heartbreaking—and unnecessary. Over 166 million birds, most of them healthy, have been gassed or foamed to death because of a blanket policy that refuses to distinguish between sick and sound. HPAI kills 90% of infected birds anyway, and it rarely jumps to humans. Why not isolate the sick ones and let the rest live? Instead, we’ve got a system that orders mass executions within 24 hours of a positive test, no questions asked. It’s a waste of life that farmers, who pour their hearts into raising these animals, feel deeply.
But the pain doesn’t stop at the barn door. Americans are reeling from this. Egg prices have skyrocketed—$6 a dozen on average by early 2025, $9 in some places—a 50% jump in a year. Families already stretched thin are skipping meals or hunting for substitutes, all because the government’s culled away their food supply. The late 2024 culls alone slashed egg production enough to trigger shortages, rationing, and price gouging. This isn’t a natural disaster; it’s a man-made famine fueled by bureaucrats who don’t understand farms or kitchens.
Big Government, Big Profits, Small Farmers Screwed
This is government meddling at its worst. The USDA, armed with the Animal Health Protection Act, can swoop in and dictate mass slaughter without a second thought. Farmers, who know their flocks better than any suit in D.C., get no say. And who’s cashing in? Big Ag outfits like Cal-Maine Foods, which pocketed $44 million in taxpayer-funded indemnity payments by January 2025 while raking in record profits from sky-high egg prices. Taxpayers have shelled out $1.46 billion to prop up this cycle of kill-and-compensate, while small producers are left with empty coops and no lifeline.
The testing itself is a farce—PCR cranked to 45 cycles, well beyond the 30-35 cycles that even mainstream experts admit can’t reliably detect an active threat. We’re annihilating flocks over what might just be viral ghosts, not real risks. There’s a better way: targeted testing, isolation, and trust in farmers to manage their own. But that would mean less control for the feds and less profit for the corporate giants they coddle.
Time to Push Back
This cull-crazy policy has gone too far. It’s robbed us of resilient birds, affordable eggs, and any shred of faith in government competence. Farmers deserve the freedom to protect their flocks without a bureaucratic sledgehammer smashing their livelihoods. Americans deserve food they can afford without Big Brother pricing it out of reach. Three years of this—166 million birds, billions spent, and a broken egg market—is proof enough that the system’s rotten. It’s time to ditch the mandates, rethink the strategy, and let farmers lead the way. Our poultry, and our people, can’t afford another year of this nonsense.