Chicken farmers frustrated with the hunt for chicks

Boys and girls are done hunting for their Easter eggs, but for chicken farmers in Saskatchewan, the hunt has just begun.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agencyhas put the restrictions on import of live chickens, eggs, and poultry products in certain U.S. states where avian flu was found.

Clinton Monchuk, CEO of the Chicken Farmers of Saskatchewan, saidthere are states where Saskatchewan can get chickens. It's just thatpoultry imports are not allowed into Canada through Minnesota, Montana, or South Dakota. So it's almost impossible to actually get the chicks across the border into the prairie provinces.

We definitely have a logisticalheadache in front of us but it's something hopefully we can deal with as we go forward.- Clinton Monchuk, CEO of Chicken Farmers of Saskatchewan

Now, chicks would have to be trucked up through Washington State or Idaho and all the way through the mountains.The problem is there are restrictions on how long live animals can be in a truck with the maximum being between 24 and 48 hours.

"We definitely have a logisticalheadache in front of us but it's something hopefully we can deal with as we go forward," Monchuk told CBC Saskatchewan's Blue Sky.

Monchuk saidchicken farmers are even considering flying the live chicks via a cargo plane to Saskatoon. However, it is more expensive and with airport delays, the timing has to be perfect otherwise the chicks will die.

One other option is to take the eggs up and fly them up to Saskatchewan to hatch them here. He saidit hasn't been done in the prairie provinces for years, but there are possibilities of doing it in British Columbia.

He saidthe industry has been built with parent stock only produced by a few companies, because there are relatively few breeding chickens produced each year.

Will the cost of chicken increase for consumers?

At this point, Monchuk saidconsumers won't see much of a price increase. If the restrictions continue, though, he saidsupply will be a concern.

"If we start missing placement of chicks for the breeder flock right now it will push back our ability to produce what Canadian consumers want a half year to a year out."

Monchuk saidhe hopes that the CFIA will monitor the situation and take state restrictions off and implement them on a county level instead.