The culling of nearly half a million chickens left without enough food following the bankruptcy of a Florida egg company is now complete, according to a statement by Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin.

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Approximately 1.2 million hens at nine southeast Georgia farms were left with little or no food after Cypress Foods was declared bankrupt. Under an agreement between producers and the company, it had supplied feed for the birds, the cost of which could be thousands of dollars per week depending on the size of the operation.


“Some producers tried purchasing feed themselves to keep the flocks alive until a solution could be found. We persuaded the bankruptcy judge to allow what little cash assets were available be used to remedy the situation,” said Commissioner Irvin.


Of the total, 40,000 were shipped to slaughter and 426,000 were humanely euthanized. The remaining 705,000 hens were sold to other poultry business entities.


The state Department of Agriculture advised, monitored and supervised the trustees of Cypress Foods with the removal and disposal of the birds.

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