Commercial egg farmers in North Carolina were among those in several states to lose millions of birds to avian influenza so far this year.
According to an egg market report recently published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, egg producers in North Carolina lost 3.3 million birds to the bird flu in January.
North Carolina is among nine states with bird flu outbreaks confirmed in January and February by the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
If one bird in a flock gets sick, farmers are required to euthanize the entire flock to keep the virus from spreading.
The recent bird flu surge has lead to the eradication of millions of birds, causing egg supply to drop and egg prices in the U.S. to soar.