Chickens go hungry after company goes bankrupt

ATLANTA - Up to one million starving chickens in Georgia and Florida may have to be killed after their bankrupt owner quit feeding them. <br> <br> Agriculture officials say Cypress Foods Incorporated of Winter Haven, Florida, left farmers in southeast Georgia and central Florida without feed for about 1.4 million egg-laying hens. <br> <br> About 1.2 million of the hens were on nine farms in southeast Georgia near Blackshear. Agriculture Commissioner Tommy Irvin estimated that two-thirds of those birds -- almost 800,000 -- may be unsalvageable because they are so emaciated and diseased. <br> <br> Calls to the Cypress Foods corporate office today were not answered. <br> <br> Irvin says the state was notified of the starving birds late last week, and about 300,000-500,000 already have been sold to other active poultry companies. <br> <br> He says the rest likely will end up at a rendering plant to be disposed of. <br> <br> Georgia has about 11.5 million egg-laying hens and is among the country&#39;s top six or seven egg-producing states. <br> <br> At a Cypress Foods farm north of Dade City, Florida, prison inmates worked for a second day to clear an estimated 20,000 dead chickens from the open warehouse-type buildings that housed 200,000 laying hens. <br> <br> Florida officials say if any of the birds still alive were in good enough condition they would be placed somewhere.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/3/197810