3. North Carolina
Number produced: 822.70 million
Pounds produced: 6.42 billion
Value of production: $3.45 billion
Like its southern twin, North Carolina, next on the list of biggest chicken producing states in America has recently suffered a pretty hefty loss as a result of chicken deaths. Unlike South Carolina, though, the chickens in NC lost their lives in a natural disaster: Hurricane Matthew. The floods caused by the hurricane killed birds in the millions. Unsurprisingly, most of them were chickens. Natural catastrophes aside, the farms in NC are not too healthy for the chickens either. According to this contract farmer who owns a farmhouse in the state, the chickens are currently victims of extremely distressing conditions. They are crowded into one tiny place that is too small to bear the burden, while their chests are genetically modified to the extent that the birds are unable to carry their weight, causing their legs to lose their strength too. Whether this is the condition of all poultry farms in the country is another debate but this farmer has certainly opened many eyes.
