About 300,000 hens were killed in a fire at a Michigan egg farm

About 300,000 hens were killed by a fire at a poultry farm in southwestern Michigan, CNN affiliate WWMT reported.

Multiple fire departments responded Friday to the barn fire at the Konos Inc. egg farm, a distributor of Vande Bunte Eggs, in Otsego Township, Michigan, the station said.

The barn was destroyed but about 50 farm employees were uninjured by the blaze, said Brian Burch, a spokesman for Konos Inc. Fire crews had to bring in water trucks to fight the fire over several hours.

“Agriculture fires are always a challenge, especially at a place like this. We don’t have city water, we don’t have those same kinds of assets that we sometimes take for granted in cities,” he told WWMT.

Another 250,000 hens housed in a nearby barn were unharmed, Burch said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

The cage-free poultry farm, about 31 miles south of Grand Rapids, produces about 550,000 eggs a day, Burch said.