New records reveal chaos behind Hickman’s Family Farms' bird-flu response

For Tucson residents, the records from Hickman’s Family Farms offer a detailed look at the largest animal disease outbreak in Arizona history, while raising questions about how a mass bird killing was managed and what happened to the dead hens afterward. The outbreak occurred at the company’s facility in Tonopah, where 6.3 million egg laying hens were killed in 2025. Millions of those birds were buried on the property, prompting concerns among Tonopah residents about possible groundwater contamination. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has said the risk is low.

The newly released government records describe an operation marked by delays, equipment problems, worker injuries and law enforcement activity. They show that more than 300 people took part in the response, most of them contractors. The documents include incident logs from the effort to kill the infected flocks, as well as reports involving heat related illnesses, a worker who fell inside a barn and a fight in an employee parking lot.

Animal Outlook, an animal protection organization, reviewed the records and said they reveal the suffering endured by the birds and the lack of preparation for an outbreak of this scale. Ben Williamson, the group’s executive director, said the records provide a view into what happened inside the facility during the response. The organization is urging poultry companies and government agencies to plan more thoroughly for future outbreaks and to evaluate methods other than the one used at Hickman’s.

Crews used a method known as ventilation shutdown plus heat, or VSD+, to kill the hens. Under that process, barns are sealed, ventilation is stopped and heaters are used to raise the temperature until the birds die. Animal Outlook described the process as taking several hours and causing the birds to die from extreme heat. The records indicate that the method was not completed smoothly in at least one of the barns.

The operation involving Barn 16 continued over two days. According to an incident log, the barn reached the minimum required temperature on the morning of June 1. After that milestone, plastic being used to seal the building blew off. Crews had to turn off the heaters, repair or reset the plastic and begin the process again. The heaters were ultimately shut down more than 27 hours after the first recorded temperature milestone, illustrating how a problem with the barn’s containment disrupted the response.

The human toll documented in the logs included at least six medical incidents connected to heat exposure. One worker experienced shortness of breath and chest pain and was taken to a hospital. In a separate incident, a worker fell from upper cages inside a barn and landed on his head before being sent to urgent care. The records also show that crews were working in an environment that required coordination among a large number of contractors and other personnel.

The response included incidents beyond the barns. On May 29, an incident log recorded a 911 call concerning a fight in an employee parking lot. On June 12, law enforcement officers staged nearby while preparing to serve a warrant at another property. A subsequent entry said workers at one site escaped by moving under fences. The records do not establish how those events affected the bird killing operation, but they add to the picture of a response unfolding amid broader disruptions and safety concerns.

The federal government paid Hickman’s more than $17 million in indemnity payments connected to the outbreak, according to USDA spending records. The compensation came as the company dealt with the loss of its flocks and the response required to contain the disease. Hickman’s operations have since been sold to a Brazilian agricultural producer, adding a change in ownership to the aftermath of the outbreak.

The records are likely to keep attention focused on both animal welfare and the risks associated with disposing of millions of carcasses at a large agricultural facility. For communities such as Tonopah, the burial sites remain a local concern, even as state environmental officials describe groundwater contamination as unlikely. Animal Outlook says future responses should include better advance planning, trained workers and consideration of other depopulation techniques. The group also argues that a facility as large as Hickman’s should have been better prepared for an outbreak, given the scale of the operation and the number of birds involved.