A Minnesota-based egg farm will be forced to kill nearly 1 million chickens to limit the spread of bird flu after the disease was found there, officials said November 6.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the virus was found at a farm located in Wright County, Minnesota. The disease was also spotted in three smaller flocks in Iowa and South Dakota.

According to the Associated Press, an entire flock must be killed whenever the avian influenza virus is detected on a farm in order to prevent the disease from spreading.

Moreover, the USDA said roughly 26,800 turkeys will be killed on the farm in McPherson County, South Dakota. An additional 17,000 birds will be slaughtered at two farms based in Clay County, Iowa.

The egg and poultry industry has been dealing with a bird flu outbreak since last year which led to the execution of 58 million birds in 2022 alone. This greatly contributed to increased egg and turkey prices.

The Minnesota farm is the first egg-laying facility where bird flu has been detected in 2023. Through the first ten months of this year, only 3.4 million birds have been put down to prevent the spread of bird flu.

Minnesota has lost 5.5 million birds since the outbreak began last year. Iowa has been hit the hardest with over 16 million birds slaughtered.