Arizona egg farmer wants to vaccinate chickens from bird flu, but government won’t allow it

PHOENIX – A prominent Arizona egg farmer says vaccinating chickens from the bird flu would lower prices, but the federal government won’t allow it.

“What’s frustrating is, we know that that’s the answer,” Glenn Hickman, president and CEO of Buckeye-based Hickman’s Family Farms, told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Outspoken with Bruce and Gaydos on Tuesday. “And yet, we can’t get our federal government to release the vaccine so that we can vaccinate our birds.”

Hickman said some European countries are using vaccines produced in the U.S. on chickens, ducks and turkeys to gain control of the avian flu outbreak in their flocks.

“We have the ability to do it,” he said. “We vaccinate for other poultry diseases. It wouldn’t be a big deal. We could start that as soon as we get the green light from the government.”

Why can’t egg farmers prevent avian flu outbreaks?

Egg production facilities follow multiple strict procedures to protect their chickens from the H5 avian flu, which can be spread by wild birds.

“We don’t have wild birds flying inside and those kind of things,” Hickman explained. “But the pressure is from birds outside that are pooping on the dust or on the ground or those kind of things. … It’s being introduced into the buildings as we bring air in.”

Hickman said thoroughly filtering the air is not a viable solution because the buildings are too large. That leaves vaccinating chickens as the only proven way to protect chickens that isn’t part of his arsenal.

Why are egg prices soaring?

Egg farms nationwide have lost 12% of their 40 million birds to the avian flu since October, Hickman said. The resulting egg shortage is driving prices to record levels.

When one chicken gets the disease, the standard method to prevent it from spreading is to cull the entire flock. Hickman said his egg farm in Maricopa lost 1.1 million chickens to the bird flu.

“When we’ve lost this massive amount of birds in a very short period of time, our industry does not have the capacity to suddenly ramp up our ability to produce more eggs or more chickens,” he said.

The average price of a dozen Grade A eggs reached $4.95 in January, eclipsing the previous record of $4.82 set two years earlier. Eggs can cost $10 or more in some places, with specialized varieties, such as organic and cage-free eggs, even more expensive.

In addition, some stores are having trouble keeping their shelves stocked.

Sen. Ruben Gallego favors vaccinating chickens

Hickman has at least one person in Washington on his side when it comes to vaccines: Democratic U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego.

Donald Trump is doing NOTHING to fix egg prices and shortages, so I’m assuming he doesn’t know where to start… I’ll offer some help. pic.twitter.com/ZySMnYr3RE

— Senator Ruben Gallego (@SenRubenGallego) February 11, 2025

The freshman senator from Phoenix released a video on social media Tuesday urging President Donald Trump to address soaring egg prices through vaccines.

“It’s very simple. Donald Trump should start vaccinating chickens against bird flu, and that will eventually bring down these costs of eggs. … For now, were are going to have to see them for quite a while,” Gallego said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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