Livestock Farming

The growing popularity of crispy chicken sandwiches has left restaurants chasing a relatively rare bird: small chickens. Restaurant companies, including KFC and Chick-fil-A Inc., have come to prize chickens that weigh about 4 pounds, a slimmer bird than the big-breasted varieties that have come to dominate the U.S. chicken industry.  Some fast-food chain executives say the smaller-size birds that are often used for sandwiches and chicken-on-the bone offerings are more tender and flavorful than their bigger counterparts.…

Tyson Foods Inc. TSN -0.52% plans to shut down two of its poultry plants and lay off nearly 1,700 workers as it tries to improve its chicken operations that produce about one-fifth of the U.S. supply. Tyson notified the nearly 1,000 employees at its Van Buren, Ark., chicken plant on Monday that it would close on May 12, the company said. About 700 workers at Tyson’s plant in Glen Allen, Va., also found out on Monday that its plant…

In South Dakota, the highly contagious bird flu, typically transmitted by the feces, mucus and saliva of wild birds, first hit commercial poultry farms in March 2022 and has continued to affect flocks. Within the last month, egg-laying hens and turkeys at several local farms were infected, leading to the deaths of more than 1.3 million poultry over that period, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. Nearly four million poultry have died in the state since the start of the outbreak.…

Egg prices are soaring as the deadliest avian influenza outbreak on record devastates poultry flocks across the country.The price for eggs rose 11.1% last month compared with the month before and was up nearly 60% in December from the prior year, according to Thursday’s consumer-price index, a measurement of what consumers pay for goods and services. Overall inflation eased to 6.5%, according to this week’s federal data. Here’s what you should know.  What are egg prices now?  Egg prices have dropped slightly…

Service problems at Union Pacific Corp. UNP 4.40% have sparked a dispute between the railroad and one of the country’s biggest chicken processors, which says the lives of millions of birds are endangered by repeated delays in the delivery of corn.California-based Foster Farms has asked for regulatory intervention for the second time in six months, saying delayed shipments from Union Pacific have dwindled its corn inventory. The company said it has diverted feed from…

The largest U.S. egg producer on Wednesday said its quarterly sales more than doubled from those of the same period last year as rapid inflation and the effects from an avian-influenza outbreak pushed prices higher. Sickened chickens, which farmers destroy to limit the disease’s spread, have led to reduced egg production and have helped drive egg prices higher, providing a boost for the Ridgeland, Miss.-based company in its fiscal second quarter. Cal-Maine’s net average selling price per dozen eggs for the…

Acentury ago, “a chicken in every pot” was an ambitious political slogan. It has long since become an everyday reality. Americans will consume nearly 100 pounds of chicken per capita this year, according to the National Chicken Council, up from around 67 pounds in 1992, when chicken first surpassed beef. Behind chicken abundance is the efficient production that critics call factory farming. Bred for maximum meat in minimum time, confined to crowded sheds, and subjected to assembly line slaughter and disassembly, chickens…

Egg prices are hitting records, driven by an avian-influenza outbreak that has killed tens of millions of chickens and turkeys this year across nearly all 50 states.Wholesale prices of Midwest large eggs hit a record $5.36 a dozen in December, according to the research firm Urner Barry. Retail egg prices have increased more than any other supermarket item so far this year, climbing more than 30% from January to early December compared with the same period a year earlier, and outpacing overall food and beverage prices,…

Restaurants that have struggled for months with escalating costs are getting a break from chicken.Prices for chicken breasts in the U.S. have plunged about 70% since the first week of June, according to market-research firm Urner Barry. Wings and tenders have gotten cheaper, too, as poultry companies have increased production while demand from restaurants and supermarkets has remained flat, said chicken industry analysts and executives. Chicken’s rapid price drop has brought relief to restaurant chains as crispy chicken…

The Justice Department is investigating how poultry companies pay their chicken farmers, the latest move by the government to clamp down on an industry payment system that has been criticized by some farmers. Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. PPC 2.92% the second-largest U.S. poultry processor by sales volume, said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that it learned earlier this month that the Justice Department had opened a civil probe into…