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Comment by pixl97 | Hacker News Reader

I mean, 60 million sounds like a big number, but it seems that the average number of chickens slaughtered per day in the US is somewhere around 24 million birds.

I think you may underestimate the scale of poultry slaughter in the US.

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Those are culls, not slaughters. They aren't the same thing. You cannot sell culled chickens for food, they are culled due to disease and are considered biohazard, because they can infect other parts of the flock or other flocks, and in the case of bird flu are also infectious to humans. Generally, the USDA requires a full cull of flocks if any birds are affected. My sister is into urban chickens and bird flu is very much not a joke, and trying to prevent it is hard because humans can carry it and infect chickens and chickens can infect humans.

Also, the chicken you eat and the chicken that lays eggs aren't even the same breed at industrial scale.

Also, I know that many regulations, including USDA regulations, are a bit of a joke in the US, but bird flu is one thing they very much do not fuck around on. The loss of those 60 millions birds is a straight economic loss that's non-recoverable for those egg producers.

None of this disproves the point that the parent poster is making. 60MM = 2.5 daily culls. that's not a lot, in context.

Now, if you had different numbers, that would be a thing worth discussing.

"Also, the chicken you eat and the chicken that lays eggs aren't even the same breed at industrial scale."

That, and the numbers from slaughters are chickens being slaughtered for food. Other cull counts are related to male chicks being culled in prepping for egg laying, which is also not relevant.

These are full adult flocks of active egg-layers being culled. It has SIGNIFICANT impact on egg production.

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