Power outage kills 60,000 farm chickens

By Jeff Rivenbark - email

CLEVELAND COUNTY, NC (WBTV) - Workers are trying to clean up and bury thousands of chickens who were killed during a power outage at a farm in Cleveland County.

Up to 60,000 chickens have died at Greenway Farms on McCraw Road.

Officials say the owner was using a generator connected to large fans in the chicken houses which experienced some sort of power outage.

The large fans help pull air through the building to keep the temperature down.  When they're not working, if only for a few minutes, it can cause the chickens to die from the heat.

Officials say the chickens had been dead for nearly a week.

Health officials say there is no public health concern.

Currently, the state does not have routine inspections of chicken houses and state officials typically only visit a farm after a water quality or other type of environmental complaint has been filed.

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