The chicken industry in Delaware and throughout Delmarva raised and produced more chickens in 2024 than the year before.
Even with the threat of avian influenza, chicken farmers raised 613 million chickens on Delmarva last year compared to 601 million in 2023.
And Delmarva Chicken Association communications manager James Fisher said the threat of avian flu so far in the region has been managed with care.
“In 2023 and 2024, there was a very small handful of avian influenza detections in farms on Delmarva and some of those detections were in egg-laying farms,” Fisher said. “So that's a separate part of the chicken industry that isn't measured in these figures. On Delmarva, nearly every chicken farm is raising chickens for meat.”
Fisher added chicken growers and company have also been doing their part to minimize transmission of the virus.
“Avian influenza is something that chicken growers and chicken companies, everybody involved, is very alert to the threat of that. So the notion of biosecurity and taking a lot of steps to make sure your flock is not exposed to avian influenza is really important.”
Organizers at this year’s Delaware Ag Week canceled all poultry-related events in January due to the risk of avian influenza. An official with the event said limiting gatherings of chicken growers would also limit spread of the virus.
Fisher also said the DCA has worked hard to support the few egg farmers that detected avian influenza in their flocks and the broiler chicken industry is doing well in Delaware.
The National Chicken Council reports the chicken industry in Delaware supported nearly 26 thousand direct and indirect jobs with $1.9 billion wages in 2024.
Fisher noted the growth in 2024 led to Delmarva’s chicken industry generating $4.8 billion in sales, compared with a $4.4 billion the previous year. And that leads to jobs.
“You continue to see chicken companies hire for positions. And the positions are really all over the map,” Fisher said. “They can be directly involved in processing chicken. They can be in marketing and veterinary care to help family farmers care for the chickens in their flocks, to accounting, transportation, IT services.”
The industry generates $9.2 billion of economic impact in the state, according to the NCC.
