The project’s lead researcher is so excited she’s putting off retirement.

“I want the first experiment in a system like this. This is so exciting,” Karen Schwean-Lardner said in a University of Saskatchewan news release.

Earlier this month, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation announced $6.2 million in funding to build a state-of-the-art poultry laying facility at the University. The foundation is a federal government-created non-profit set up in 1997 to fund research infrastructure in Canada.

WHY IT MATTERS: The proposed facility will allow researchers to improve poultry barn lighting, housing and food systems for better animal welfare and egg production.

The Saskatchewan Egg Producers contributed $3 million while the university’s agriculture and bioresource department added $1 million.

“This will move us so far forward in poultry research,” said Schwean-Lardner in the release. Schwean-Lardner is a professor in the university’s department of animal and poultry science.

The nearly 24,000-square-foot facility is set to include three types of hen housing: enriched, free run and free-range. Ten individual housing rooms will have controls for lighting, temperature and other environmental factors.

“Each one is like a little mini-barn,” Schwean-Larder told media.

“Big data is getting more attention these days. We have a lot of data that can be gathered over time, and this unit is going to allow us to manage that data and collect it over a long period of time,” assistant professor Deborah Adewole said. “There are going to be a lot of new things that we can do for poultry research.”

The facility will also include viewing rooms so public groups — for example, schoolchildren — can see the chickens and housing systems while reducing biosecurity risks.

“We can control the environment. Right now, we cannot do that in the same way,” said Adewole. “This facility is one of its kind in Canada. There are other universities that have built new facilities, but this one is encompassing all systems and has space for public viewing systems as well — which is a first in Canada.”

Schwean-Larder said her first experiment would look at the effects of light on the hens and will involve researchers from the U.S.

“To be able to do that kind of research with an international perspective, I can’t stand it. I’m losing my voice because I’m excited.”

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For example, before 2021 ground beef was about $1.00 per pound cheaper than chicken breast, wrote FCC senior economist Graeme Crosbie in a Feb. 11 report. Since mid-2024, the price of ground beef has caught and even surpassed the price of chicken breast in some months.

Chicken prices at retail, farm gate

This rise in beef prices has pushed consumers toward other meats, like chicken and pork. Since 2022, pork prices have risen by more than 13 per cent, chicken prices by almost 22 per cent, and beef prices by nearly 38 per cent, FCC reported on Jan. 28.

Additional demand for chicken has led to higher prices. Fresh or frozen chicken prices rose by an average of 6.7 per cent in the final three months of 2025, FCC said. January to September, they rose 0.9 per cent on average per month.

The rise has been largely independent of farm gate prices in the latter half of the year.

FCC predicted that farm gate prices for chicken will be flat to lower in 2026 as feed costs are expected to remain low.

“Margins will remain positive given strong demand and aforementioned low feed costs,” Crosbie wrote.

Crosbie noted that there’s some concern that avian influenza will hamper producers’ ability to fill demand — particularly in B.C. However, 5.6 per cent more more chicks were placed for broiler production in the latter half of 2025 than in the same period in 2024.

“Assuming avian flu outbreaks are well controlled, this bodes well for production numbers in the first part of 2026,” Crosbie wrote.

Imports of chicken under the Canada-United States-Mexico (CUSMA) and Trans-Pacific (CPTPP) trade agreements reached nearly 100 per cent of tariff-rate quotas for the first time in 2025.

Egg demand, production up

Eggs are also benefiting from demand for economical protein.

While egg consumption per capita has been on the rise since the 90s, there was a “significant jump” in the second half of 2025, said Crosbie.

Specifically, the number of eggs available for consumption rose to 5.54 dozen per person in the third quarter of 2025 from 5.00 dozen per person in the same quarter of 2024.

This “indicates a large increase in production amid slowing population growth,” Crosbie said.

Two opposing forces appear to be in play, Crosbie wrote. There appear to be plenty of eggs available, while there’s only anecdotal evidence of the impacts over the winter of avian influenza on laying flocks.

“Quota allocation may be slowed or altered to begin the year if no significant production capacity was lost,” Crosbie wrote.

“Regardless, the longer-term outlook for egg consumption and production continues to be positive.”

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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced Thursday it would move forward with depopulating over 300 birds at Universal Ostrich Farms, near Edgewood, about 120 km northwest of Castlegar.

The farm has been in an ongoing standoff with the CFIA since last winter, when a cull order was given after two dead birds tested positive for highly-pathogenic avian influenza (HAPI).

The farm has already made several attempts at stopping the CFIA order, including an appeal denied in August. The stamping-out procedure is standard practice for infected flocks.

“The CFIA has respected all orders and decisions of the courts throughout the legal process and expects the ostrich farm owners and supporters to do the same now that the Supreme Court of Canada has issued its judgment,” the CFIA said via a Thursday written release.

It also reminded the public any obstruction of the process of officers performing their duties would be an offence. Universal Ostrich Farms has drawn crowds of protestors ever since the initial order.

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Highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, is a seasonal disease spread by migratory birds. It has led to the culling of tens of millions of poultry worldwide in recent years, disrupting production and raising fears of human transmission.

“This decree … was issued following evidence of infection among migratory wild birds in Europe, including France, and the confirmation of several outbreaks in poultry farms,” the agriculture ministry said in the government’s official journal.

So far, two bird flu outbreaks have been detected on poultry farms and three in backyard flocks, the ministry said in the decree. A first case had been detected in mid-October at a pheasant and partridge breeding farm in northern France.

The change in status will take effect on Wednesday, Oct, 22.

The upgrade to risk status in the seasonal assessment is kicking in earlier than previous years, taking effect in October compared to November last year and December in 2023.

— Reporting by Gus Trompiz and Sybille de La Hamaide

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Of course, my role in Chicken Day is minuscule compared to the part played by my farmer, who raised the birds. On Chicken Day, she starts earlier than me in order to slaughter, pluck, eviscerate, dress, chill, weigh and bag a couple hundred birds for pickup by her clients. But all the same, I hit the couch to be ready for my part in the process: collecting the birds and getting them home in coolers, cutting each up, bagging, freezing, then dealing with the carcasses by roasting bones and vegetables, making stock, straining, decanting into containers and labelling them for the freezer, then picking off any meat from the depleted carcasses to use as dog food after the stockpot is emptied. It’s a full day crammed into an afternoon.

I’ve been buying chickens from farmers since my restaurant days in the 1990s, when several Hutterite men in cowboy hats and plaid shirts brought ducks and chickens to both my home kitchen and my restaurant’s side door. It was particularly fun dealing with them, as they always had eyes for my young cooks and servers, and more than once asked some of them if they’d like to move to the country.

Buying whole birds makes natural sense — just as buying direct from the producer does, with its shorter supply chain and access to local food, built-in relationship and clarity about what, exactly, your money is getting you, what your bird has been fed and how it’s been raised. The cost is noticeably less for whole birds than for parts, like boneless breasts (vastly overrated — not the best cut on the bird, because it is so lean and un-muscled. Give me a runner’s thigh any day!). And naturally, farm-based businesses sell whole birds.

That price differential matters even more now: food costs more than ever. One of those five-pound farm birds cost me about $10 back in 1992, about one-third of what I pay now. Today’s 30 bucks is a 10 per cent increase from last year’s cost. (A grocery store’s whole “commercial” bird retailed for $5.91/kg in May 2025, according to StatCan. Are direct-sale birds worth the extra scratch? You bet, if the farmer is a good one.)

But compare chicken to beef to see what a good value a bird is. Cattle herds have shrunk, vet and transport costs have climbed, drought has reduced available feed and grazing, and the U.S. remains Canada’s primary market for our beef, gobbling up 75 per cent of what Canadian ranchers raise. (As of this writing, Canadian beef and cattle are exempt from Trump’s tariffs — but that, of course, could change on a whim.) Now I adore a well-marbled ribeye and a juicy burger, but both have become luxuries for days when we have something to celebrate. For quotidian dining, our farm-sourced birds are our go-to meat protein source.

Food prices are going nowhere but up — by three to six per cent, depending on the category, according to the annual Food Price Report collaboratively researched and produced by four Canadian universities (Dalhousie, Saskatchewan, Guelph, UBC). So on Chicken Day, I peacefully bank my birds, and spend the afternoon cutting the whole into breasts, thighs, drums and wings, and making stock with the carcasses, which is a cook’s gold brick, enabling pots of stew and soup, sauces and braises, and imparting nourishing protein to the unwell. First we eat, then we can sound off on the relative virtues of protein sources, and rant about tariffs, feed and the many variables that face farmers.

Darl’s honey lemon chicken

My oldest son’s longtime favourite. Use dark meat, leave the skin on to protect the meat from blackening as the honey caramelizes, and set finger bowls on the table for sticky paws. Adapted from my first book, Skinny Feasts. Use the oven if the grill is out of fuel.

Serves several teenage boys.

• 6-8 chicken thighs or drums
• ¼ cup melted honey
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• ½ tsp. dried thyme
• 6-8 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. honey mustard
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil for the grill

Slit open the thighs or drums to expose the bone, or remove the bone altogether. Mix together the remaining ingredients except the oil. Set half the mixture aside to use as a baste, and use the remainder to marinate the meat for 15-30 minutes, or as time allows.

Preheat the grill to medium high, or the oven to 425 F. Lightly oil the grill, and place the chicken on the grill, turning several times, or cook on parchment-lined trays in the oven until the juices run clear. Baste with the reserved honey-lemon mixture as the meat comes out of the oven, or on the last turn on the grill.

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Onions and garlic offer more than good smells. In Cancer Letters (vol. 269, issue 2), scientists Anna A. Powolny and Shivendra Singh from the United States discuss research findings that show allium vegetables such as onions and garlic are effective in cancer prevention and treatment and “can not only offer protection against chemically induced cancer in animal models by altering carcinogen metabolism, but also suppressing growth of cancer cells in culture and in vivo by causing cell cycle arrest.”

In folk medicine that recognizes the healing value of food, this is old news. Garlic is widely acknowledged as antibacterial, anti-fungal and anti-thrombotic (preventing blood clotting). Much of the value in onions derives from its high sulphur content; that which makes us cry, though, is also responsible for alliums’ healthful properties.

So into the stockpot go the onions and garlic. Next are the bones — in my kitchen, chicken bones from the free-range birds I buy annually from my farmer friend. With some carrots, spices and herbs, this combo simmers in water for hours, releasing gelatin and nutrients from the vegetables and the bones. When it’s cooled, strained and chilled, the stock should go thick and goopy, revealing the presence of gelatin.

Meat-based stock — bone broth, as some call it — has been indispensable as a nutrient for millennia, especially in times and places where animal protein is in short supply. The collagen released from the bones during long simmering converts into gelatin, which facilitates digestion and may promote reduction of inflammation. So what seems like a simple combination of unprepossessing ingredients is actually highly nutritious, and I plan on taking regular doses of stock-based homemade soups to my friend in the hospital as she recuperates. First we eat, and feed our friends in need, then we talk about hospital fare.

Chicken stock

I collect chicken bones, raw and/or roasted, in my freezer, and make stock as needed. If you don’t have bones, find an old stewing hen, or gallina, as Italian nonnas call them. Failing either, buy backs and bones, or a whole bird.

Roasting the bones, onions and garlic engages the Maillard reaction of browned and caramelized surfaces for better colour and aroma and possibly more accessible enzymes. If you are making a smallish potful of stock and don’t want to use the oven to roast bones or vegetables, use your air fryer or a cast iron pan on the stovetop to generate good colour and flavour.

Recuperative soup is a “mother” in the French culinary sense. It can be as simple as stock with additional minced garlic, onions and carrots, or it can evolve into any number of equally simple soup variants, such as the best-ever chicken noodle, or French onion. Or add potatoes, carrots, yams or celery root, and puree when cooked for a thick texture; add pasta, tomatoes and minced sausage for minestrone; add lentils or dried beans or chickpeas with or without a ham hock for split pea/lentil/bean soup; add corn and ham for chowder; or add beef and barley for that favourite classic. In short, add ingredients ad infinitum.

The addition of a bit of apple cider vinegar helps with the release of gelatin from the bones. Do not salt the stock as if simmers; if you reduce it for a sauce, it may become too salty.

Makes 4 quarts.

• 5 lb. chicken bones
• 1-2 medium onions, halved
• 1 head garlic, split crosswise
• 3 large carrots, coarsely chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• A handful of parsley stalks
• A handful of basil stalks
• A sprig of rosemary
• A handful of fresh thyme
• 12-15 whole peppercorns
• Water to cover

Brown the bones, onions and garlic as described in the headnote. Combine in stockpot with remaining ingredients. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil, then reduce to an active simmer so it actively bubbles over half the surface. Cook for four to 12 hours, replenishing water whenever it drops below the top surface.

Cool and strain, then ladle into containers. Chill, remove coagulated fat cap and freeze the stock until needed.

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The outbreak in southern Brazil was identified at a farm supplying Vibra Foods, a Brazilian operation backed by Tyson Foods, according to two people familiar with the matter.

WHY IT MATTERS: Brazil is the largest chicken exporter in the world

Vibra and Tyson did not immediately respond to questions. Vibra has 15 processing plants in Brazil and exports to over 60 countries, according to its website.

Brazil exported $10 billion of chicken meat in 2024, accounting for about 35 per cent of global trade. Much of that came from meat processors BRF and JBS, which ship to some 150 countries.

China, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are among the main destinations for Brazil’s chicken exports.

Brazil’s Agriculture Minister Carlos Favaro said on Friday China had banned poultry imports from the country for 60 days. Under agreements with Japan, UAE and Saudi Arabia, he said a trade ban would only restrict shipments from the affected state and, eventually, just the municipality in question.

The outbreak occurred in the city of Montenegro in Brazil’s southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul, the farm ministry said. The state accounts for 15 per cent of Brazilian poultry production and exports, national pork and poultry group ABPA said in July 2024.

BRF has five processing plants operating in the state. JBS has also invested in local chicken processing plants under its Seara brand.

State officials said the outbreak of H5N1 bird flu is already responsible for the death of 17,000 farm chickens, either directly from the disease or due to cautionary culling.

Veterinary officials are isolating the area of the outbreak in Montenegro and hunting for more cases in an initial 10 km radius, the state agricultural secretariat said.

Favaro, the farm minister, said Brazil was working to contain the outbreak and negotiate a loosening of trade restrictions faster than the two months agreed in protocols.

“If we manage to eliminate the outbreak, we think it’s possible to re-establish a normal trade flow before the 60 days are up, including with China” Favaro said in an interview aired on CNN Brasil.

Chicken products shipped by Thursday will not be affected by trade restrictions, he added.

The ministry said in a statement that it was officially notifying the World Organization for Animal Health.

U.S. FLOCK DEVASTATED

Bird flu has swept through the U.S. poultry industry since 2022, killing around 170 million chickens, turkeys and other birds, severely affecting production of meat and eggs.

Bird flu has also infected nearly 70 people in the U.S., with one death, since 2024. Most of those infections have been among farmworkers exposed to infected poultry or cows.

The further spread of the disease raises the risk that bird flu could become more transmissible to humans.

By contrast, Argentina was able to isolate a February 2023 outbreak and start resuming exports slowly the next month.

“All necessary measures to control the situation were quickly adopted, and the situation is under control and being monitored by government agencies,” Brazil’s poultry industry group ABPA said in a statement.

JBS referred questions about the outbreak to ABPA.

BRF CEO Miguel Gularte told analysts on an earnings call that he was confident Brazilian health protocols were robust and the situation would be quickly overcome.

Brazil, which exported more than five million metric tons of chicken products last year, first confirmed outbreaks of the highly pathogenic avian flu among wild birds in May 2023 in at least seven states.

The disease is not transmitted through the consumption of poultry meat or eggs, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement.

“The Brazilian and world population can rest assured about the safety of inspected products, and there are no restrictions on their consumption,” the ministry said.

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The fee is temporary, the company said in a statement Tuesday, and is a response to a “dramatic increase in egg prices” caused by bird flu outbreaks.

“While we hope these price fluctuations will be short-lived we cannot predict how long this shortage will last,” the statement read.

The privately-held chain is known for its low prices. A standard American breakfast with two eggs is sold for $7.75 in Norcross, Georgia, where the company is headquartered. That meal is now $1 more expensive.

The price of U.S. wholesale eggs hit an all-time high in December, according to commodity data firm Expana, with a dozen eggs going for $5.57 in the Midwest and $8.85 in California.

The main factor driving egg prices higher is damage to the laying flock from bird flu. The virus wiped out more than 20 million chickens in the U.S. last quarter, data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows, the highest toll since the beginning of the outbreak in 2022.

The chain said it has 2,100 locations across the United States. Its website says it serves 272 million eggs every year.

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Tests confirmed the H7N6 subtype of bird flu at a rural chicken farm in the Otago region, Biosecurity New Zealand said in a statement. It is different to the H5N1 strain that has spread globally and raised fears of human transmission.

“Until we’ve cleaned up the situation on this farm, and assuming no other issues pop anywhere else, then we will be able to export again,” Biosecurity and Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard told Radio New Zealand after the announcement.

“The incubation period is a maximum of 21 days, so we’ll know at that point what the situation is.”

Biosecurity New Zealand said there were no reports of other sick or dead birds on other poultry farms, and no human health or food safety concerns. It added it was safe to consume thoroughly cooked egg and poultry products.

“We are taking the find seriously … our testing shows it is unrelated to a H7 strain that was identified in Australia earlier this year,” Biosecurity New Zealand deputy director-general Stuart Anderson said in a statement.

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More than 190 herds have been infected across the U.S. since March, along with 13 dairy and poultry farm workers, according to federal data. No human cases were confirmed in California, and the virus remains a low risk to the general public.

Efforts to prevent the spread of the virus were being seen at state fairs around the U.S., including he use of fake cows for milking demonstrations, increased testing, quarantines and cancelations of events in some states, according to reports.

Meanwhile, the Philippines lifted its ban on importing domesticated and wild birds, including poultry products, from California and South Dakota, Manila’s farm ministry said on Aug. 31. The Philippines imposed the temporary ban on California in January and on South Dakota in November last year after confirmed outbreaks of H5N1 subtype of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, which has killed millions of infected birds and poultry.

In Canada, there have yet to be any confirmed cases of bird flu in dairy cattle with the last outbreak in a commercial poultry flock coming six months ago. However, cases in wild birds continue to be found. In it’s Sep. 4 report the World Organisation for Animal Health revealed cases of bird flu in wild birds in Saskatchewan, British Columbia and Ontario. Only one primary control zone for highly pathogenetic avian influenza (HPAI) remains active in Canada. That zone involves a premises in Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan, where the presence of HPAI was found in a backyard poultry flock on November 15, 2023.

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