JACKSON, MISS. — A June 28 fire destroyed one of the 12 layer houses at Cal-Maine Foods Inc.’s Shady Dale, Ga., facility. Cal-Maine said approximately 200,000 laying hens were lost due to the fire, representing less than 1% of the company’s production capacity.

Despite the fire, Cal-Maine said the financial impact is expected to be minimal, and the company will cover customer orders from other Cal-Maine facilities.


“The fire occurred in a layer house that was not occupied at the time due to a normal bird-replacing cycle,” said Fred Adams Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of Cal-Maine Foods. “We are very fortunate that there were no personal injuries sustained and no damage to our processing plant in Shady Dale. At this time, we are still assessing the total extent of the damage caused by this accident. We believe the fire will have minimal financial impact on our operations and do not expect any disruption to our customers’ deliveries.”

The Shady Dale facility includes a processing plant, feed mill, three pullet houses, and 12 layer houses.