Poultry industry under pressure

"Most of my chickens have stopped growing, but they are still eating a large amount of feed every day, which is a waste for me," said 63-year-old Ye, who has seen his business expand over three decades from a few dozen chickens to around 20,000 on his farm at any given time.

Ye added that it is common to have a few cases of bird flu in the hennery every year, especially at springtime, but the unexpected new H7N9 strain has wrought huge damage on the poultry industry.

The outbreak has brought the industry to a standstill; few consumers are willing to buy poultry-related products, which has resulted in a sharp fall in the prices of chickens and ducks and even eggs.

"The price of an ordinary meat chicken has dropped from 12 yuan a kilo to four, but still no one wants to buy, even at such a low price," said Ye, who spends around 2,600 yuan a day keeping unsold chickens on his farm.

To ensure his chickens are healthy and safe to be sold at the market, Ye has to treat them with a vaccine twice a month to prevent the various strains of bird flu and other infectious diseases.

"I will have to buy more vaccine for these chickens in around a week, if the demand for chicks stays at zero," said Ye, who usually earns a profit of around 1.5 yuan for each chicken sold.

Compared with Ye Guowang, Ye Enlin, the managing director of the Wenzhou Minxin poultry cooperative in the village is suffering much greater losses; he has signed agreements to buy 5 million chickens a year from 80 henneries in the cooperative.

Three days ago, Ye Guowang, also a member of Wenzhou Minxin poultry cooperative, put 10,000 chicks in the hot house, where the temperature is constantly maintained at between 33 C and 35 C. The chicks were sold to the cooperative as part of an agreement signed in January, so he hasn't lost any money on them yet, but that may change if the outbreak doesn't end soon.