MIAMI VALLEY — There are big concerns over higher bird flu cases across the region.
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As reported on News Center 7 Daybreak, people are worried about what this could mean for grocery store costs
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Nearly four million commercial chickens and more than 86,000 commercial turkeys in Darke and Mercer counties were confirmed positive for bird flu by the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in 10 reports on Jan. 23 and Jan. 24, according to the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA).
More than 1.9 million birds have been “depopulated.” ODA’s procedure is to quarantine the impacted facility and to depopulate, or kill, the birds to prevent the disease from spreading.
ODA’s report indicates that the process of depopulating the remaining 1.8 million birds is ongoing.
Another 190,000 commercial chickens have been depopulated in Darke County, but is unclear if they tested positive for bird flu, according to ODA’s report.
As reported by News Center 7, 1.9 million commercial chickens and 72,282 commercial turkeys in Darke and Mercer counties have already been depopulated in January.
An additional 930,000 commercial chickens in Darke County were depopulated in December.
A grocery store customer told News Center 7 that she was not happy at possibly paying higher grocery store prices.
“That’s a big number, because the poultry farmers, they got to destroy all of the chickens and turkeys and left them to drive up the price of food in the grocery store,” said Stephanie Diaz.
The exact location of where these birds were in the Miami Valley was not initially released.
Approximately 6,050,026 commercial birds tested positive for bird flu in the Miami Valley in 2025, according to ODA.
News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.
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