Race to sell chickens after New York City live poultry markets ordered shut due to avian flu

A biosecurity warning sign is seen on a locked gate at a commercial poultry farm in Abbotsford, B.C., on Nov. 25, 2024. (Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press)

NEW YORK — Live poultry markets in New York City raced to sell off all their chickens and other fowl Friday after seven cases of avian flu were detected and state officials ordered markets in the metropolitan area to close for a week.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said there was no immediate threat to public health and that the temporary closure of bird markets in the city and its Westchester County and Long Island suburbs came out of an abundance of caution. Avian flu has hit farms nationwide, led to the slaughter of millions of birds and driven up egg prices, though officials say no cases have been detected among humans in New York.

The state order came after birds infected with the virus were found during routine inspections of live bird markets in the New York City boroughs of the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens. Those markets have to dispose of all poultry in a sanitary manner, according to the state’s order.

Other bird markets that do not have cases will have to sell off remaining poultry within three days, clean and disinfect and then remain closed for at least five days and be inspected by state officials before reopening.

That meant employees at La Granja, a halal-certified poultry market in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood, were rushing to sell the remainder of its inventory: around 200 live chickens of different varieties, along with turkeys, quail, ducks, roosters, pigeons and rabbits.

Any remaining animals would be slaughtered and given away to employees and longtime customers, according to Jose Fernandez, the owner.

“We’re going to lose money, for now,” he said. “But the law is the law. They know what they’re doing.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said the virus poses low risk to the general public. The agency said there have been 67 confirmed cases of bird flu in humans in the U.S., with illnesses mild and mostly detected among farmworkers who were exposed to sick poultry or dairy cows.

Despite growing attention on the avian flu, New York City’s poultry markets appeared to be doing brisk business Friday.

Outside the Wallabout Poultry market in Brooklyn, a line of customers took numbers and picked their chickens, which employees snatched from crowded cages, weighing them upside down, before bringing them to a backroom to be slaughtered.

“I’m not worried about any bird flu,” said Stan Tara, a 42-year-old Brooklyn resident, as he purchased a large chicken for $22.50. “It’s the same as you buy from the supermarket. A little more expensive, but at least it’s fresh.”

The first bird flu death in the U.S. was reported last month in Louisiana, with health officials saying the person was older than 65, had underlying medical problems and had been in contact with sick and dead birds in a backyard flock.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu has been spreading among wild birds, poultry, cows and other animals. Officials have urged people who come into contact with sick or dead birds to wear respiratory and eye protection and gloves when handling poultry.

More than 156 million birds nationwide have been affected by the outbreak, many at large farming operations that have had to slaughter their entire flocks.

Some animal rights groups, meanwhile, questioned the purpose of a state order that allowed the markets to continue selling fowl, rather than shutting them down immediately.

“The public is going into markets where no one knows if there are outbreaks of avian flu, then taking home dead birds that may or may not be infected,” said Edita Birnkrant, executive director of NYCLASS, which has long raised alarms about conditions within the city’s roughly 70 live animal markets. “It’s ludicrous.”

U.S. egg prices are likely to remain high past Easter and well into 2025, largely because of avian flu, according to CoBank, a Denver-based provider of loans and other financial services to the agriculture sector.

The highly contagious virus has affected nearly 100 million egg-laying hens in the U.S. since 2022.

But CoBank said other factors are also causing supply constraints and driving up prices, such as skyrocketing consumer demand for eggs in recent years. Fast-growing breakfast and brunch chains like First Watch are also eating up supplies.