Fat, infertile roosters are causing poultry prices to soar — and shoppers are mad as cluck.
One of the nation’s most popular rooster breeds, the Aviagen Group’s standard Ross male, has a man-made genetic flaw that’s crippling its baby-making skills — and contributing to a price spike of up to $1.50 a pound in New York City, farmers and data reveal.
Last year, roughly 17 percent of eggs fertilized by the Ross failed to hatch at Sanderson Farms, the third largest poultry producer in the country, according its chief financial officer, Mike Cockrell.
The bird’s performance problems are one reason the price of poultry has rocketed to an all-time high in the United States — irking shoppers in the Big Apple.
“It’s insane . . . they have no business messing with a chicken’s genetics,” said home health aid Debbie Ramos, 37, who was shopping at the Upper West Side Fairway Wednesday.
“It’s ridiculous. Prices are too high already, especially in New York! I’m outraged,” she fumed.
Other shoppers squawked about health concerns.
“I’m not as concerned about the price as I am about the contents of the food my kids are eating . . . You don’t know what’s going to happen to us,” said Belinda Reimer, 48, who lives near Columbus Circle.
She added, “I guess we’re going to have to eat less chicken.”
Last year, Sanderson Farms hired scientists to learn why the Ross hatch count was down, Cockrell said.
They discovered that an “undisclosed” genetic tweak to the breed had made the bird “very sensitive” to being overfed, he said.
“We fed him too much. He got fat. When he got big, he didn’t breed as much as he was intended to. The fertilization went way down, and our hatch has been way down.”
The Ross accounts for up to 25 percent of chicken meat in the United States.
In the past year, poultry prices have spiked 1.3 percent nationally, according to US Department of Labor statistics.
At some shops in New York, prices of whole chickens rose $1.50 a pound in the past year, data show.
The US Department of Agriculture last month reduced its chicken production forecast this year to just 1 percent — well below the annual average of 4 percent. Prior to last year, only 15 percent of eggs fertilized by Ross male roosters failed to hatch.
With Post Wire Services