By Karim Hammam
The Dutch government on Wednesday ordered farmers nationwide to keep poultry indoors following three reported bird flu outbreaks, as Agriculture Minister Silvio Erkens warned of a significant risk of further infections.
Dutch lockdown measures
Erkens said the nationwide requirement to keep birds indoors or otherwise shielded aims to prevent as much suffering as possible for both animals and business owners. The order applies to all poultry farms across the Netherlands.
Major US outbreak in Illinois
Days earlier, nearly 1 million chickens were killed at a commercial egg facility in Clinton County, Illinois, marking the largest active bird flu outbreak in the United States this week. The USDA confirmed 934,600 birds were affected at the Rose Acre Farms facility, the second-largest egg producer in the US.
The outbreak is part of a nationwide avian influenza epidemic first detected in February 2022, which has led to the death or culling of more than 210 million birds. Detections typically rise during fall and spring when migrating wild birds spread the virus to domestic flocks. Replacing the lost hens takes time, potentially tightening egg supplies and driving up prices, as occurred in 2024 when tens of millions of egg-laying hens were lost.
