Extreme heat in France has killed hundreds of thousands of poultry, overwhelming carcass collection services and prompting authorities to consider on-farm burial in the two biggest poultry-producing regions, agricultural organisations said.
Clement Blanchard, a 32-year old chicken farmer in Pays de la Loire, France’s second-largest poultry region, said he had lost about 700 chickens over a few days, compared with one or two per day normally.
Yann Nedelec, head of French poultry industry group ANVOL, estimated at least several hundred thousand poultry had died at both indoor and outdoor farms, though it was too early to give a precise figure.
The Chambers of Agriculture of Brittany and Pays de la Loire warned there had been “massive” poultry deaths.
Together, the two regions account for nearly 60 per cent of France’s poultry flock. France is the European Union’s third-largest poultry producer behind Poland and Spain.
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