Poultry Farm Insurance 101 & Quotes From $5

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Poultry meat is one of the most popular foods in the USA. Americans have eaten 122.75 pounds of poultry in 2021, particularly chicken, turkey, and geese. 

Recent study shows that poultry farmers earn higher than other farming businesses in the USA. Though a poultry business has potential, it faces risks that fish farms and ranches worry about. Your efforts will be all for nothing if the poultry dies because of disease, structures get damaged, and equipment gets lost. 

Consider having poultry farm insurance for this will cover financial losses and extra expenses when the unexpected happens. In this guide, learn which policies are included, the cost of premiums, and the best companies. 

Poultry Farm Liability Insurance

Similar to horse farms and dairy farms, the operations of a poultry farm can be very hectic and accidents may happen anytime. And sometimes, they might involve third parties such as pedestrians, independent contractors, delivery personnel, and others. 

Your poultry farm is liable for any bodily injury or property damage resulting from its day-to-day operations. This is why you need to get poultry farm liability insurance particularly, a general liability policy. 

Use the table above to compare the general liability insurance of companies we recommend for poultry farms. 

General liability insurance takes care of expenses if third parties hold your business liable for bodily injury or property damage. Specifically, this type of poultry farm insurance will cover:

• Medical treatments

• Reimbursement for property damage

• Attorney fees and other related defense costs

• Court judgments

Product liability insurance is automatically included in the language of general liability insurance. It can help if the poultry products you delivered caused allergies, have packaging errors, are rancid, or contain harmful substances. The product liability coverage of general liability insurance takes care of these expenses:

• Extra labor for product recall

• Public relations

• Defense costs if retailers, who received your poultry products, file a lawsuit

Other than product liability insurance, these policies might be offered as an optional or automatic inclusion to your poultry farm’s general liability policy:

• Rented premises liability coverage

• Hired/non-owned auto liability coverage

• Tools and equipment coverage for poultry farms

Note that in case you can’t get a general liability policy for your business, then a public liability policy can be used as an alternative. 

Commercial Property Insurance For Poultry Farms

A poultry farm is a business that requires a lot of structural investments. To run this business smoothly, you’ll need different buildings where eggs are hatched, chickens are fed, and finished poultry products prepared to be shipped. 

Weather and fires can damage or destroy your poultry farm’s buildings. Consider getting commercial property insurance to ensure the continuity of your business. 

Use the table above to compare the commercial property insurance of companies that we recommend. 

So how do you use commercial property insurance? This type of chicken farm insurance will cover the reconstruction or repair of the buildings that get damaged or destroyed because of:

• Fire

• Theft

• Vandalism

• Malicious mischief

• Lightning

• Weather

• Sinkhole collapse

• Aircraft

• Vehicle

• Volcanic action

Note that the coverage of commercial property insurance also extends to the precious items found within the premises of your poultry farm. Examples of things that this chicken house insurance also covers are:

• Chicken feeding machines

• Hatchers

• Incubators

• Power generators

• Egg transfer machines

• Valuable papers and records

Business Owner’s Policy For Poultry Farms

Poultry farm insurance programs allow you to fuse general liability and commercial property insurance into a single insurance product. 

The result is a business owner’s policy. This grants protection against your legal liability for bodily injuries or property damage as well as the resulting financial losses when business property gets damaged or destroyed.

Eligibility for a business owner’s policy will rest on your business profile. Most insurance companies offer this to poultry farms that have less than 100 employees and an annual revenue of $1 million. 

Purchasing a business owner’s policy is a great decision. After all, its cost is way cheaper than when you buy general liability and commercial property insurance separately. Moreover, it comes with optional policies such as equipment breakdown, business interruption, and more. 

Tools And Equipment Insurance For Poultry Farms

Buying tools and equipment insurance is another method of insuring the valuable machines that are integral in the operations of your poultry farm. 

Tools and equipment insurance will help you cover repair or replacement expenses if the incubators, hatchers, power generators, and other machinery sustain damage, get destroyed, or break down because of:

• Fire

• Theft

• Vandalism

• Malicious mischief

• Mechanical breakdown

• Electrical surge

• Electrical shorts

• Water 

It’s best to get stand-alone tools and equipment insurance for your poultry farm, as this has hefty limits.  By the way, in case you want things to be convenient, your general liability policy or commercial property insurance can be added with optional tools and equipment coverage. 

Use the table above to compare the tools and equipment insurance of companies we recommend for poultry farm businesses. 

Pollution Liability Insurance For Poultry Farms

Chicken and other fowls produce waste. This is why waste disposal is one of your poultry farm’s most pressing activities. 

Errors in waste management can happen. For example, the facility where you’re storing the waste can leak. Another possible scenario is when the waste spills during transportation because of a vehicular accident. 

Affected third parties and businesses can sue if your poultry farm is liable for pollution that results in environmental damage. This is why it’s important to get pollution liability insurance. 

Sometimes available as an add-on to general liability insurance, this poultry farm insurance policy can cover the following expenses:

• Public relations

• Professional services for containing and reversing the pollution

• Defense costs

Umbrella Liability Insurance For Poultry Farms 

Umbrella liability insurance, also called excess liability insurance, ensures that you don’t end up running out of coverage if a very costly claim is filed. This insurance supplements the limits of your general liability, professional liability, pollution liability, and other insurance policies. 

Here’s a concrete example for you to understand. Say a third party filed a $3 million lawsuit for bodily injury against your business. However, your general liability insurance only has $2 million. In this case, umbrella liability insurance will cover the remaining $1 million, so that you can take care of the claim without using your own money. 

Business Interruption Insurance For Poultry Farms

Your poultry farm business isn’t smooth sailing all the time. The death of livestock and destruction or damage to buildings can force you to suspend operations. As a result, revenues will be lost if you don’t have the countermeasure in place. 

Get business interruption insurance. This type of poultry farm insurance policy can help if you need to stop your poultry farm’s operations to renovate, relocate, or let an economic crisis pass by. 

Business interruption insurance mitigates financial losses by covering employee payroll, utility services, mortgage, loans, taxes, and other operational costs. 

Business interruption insurance is automatically included in commercial property insurance. However, you can get a stand-alone version of this policy that lasts for one month. Coverage can be extended for up to 360 days through an endorsement. 

Commercial Auto Insurance For Poultry Farms

You need commercial auto insurance if your poultry farm uses a flatbed truck, cargo van, or other types of vehicles to get feed from suppliers, deliver poultry products to retailers, and transport equipment. 

Commercial auto insurance grants protection in case something happens to your commercial vehicle while it’s running on the road. This insurance has a lot of functions. The bullets below quickly discuss each:

• If your commercial vehicle causes an accident, commercial auto insurance will cover the medical treatment of the injured third parties 

• If your commercial vehicle gets involved in an accident caused by an uninsured/underinsured vehicle, commercial auto insurance will cover the medical treatment of the driver and passengers

• If your commercial vehicle sustains damage because of fire, theft, vandalism, collision, and other covered perils, commercial auto insurance will cover parts repair or replacement

• If your commercial vehicle breaks down from a specific distance away from your poultry farm, commercial auto insurance can help cover the cost of battery jump-start, tire delivery, tire repair, gasoline delivery, towing, and other emergency roadside assistance services 

Understand that your business must purchase commercial auto insurance that complies with the minimum level of auto liability coverage mandated by the state. 

Livestock Insurance For Poultry Farms

Fires don’t only threaten your business’s tangible properties. Chicken and other fowls you’re raising are susceptible too. If left unchecked, barn fires or wildfires can kill a massive number of your produce. 

Commercial property insurance doesn’t cover the chicken you’re raising. This is why it’s important to get livestock insurance. 

Livestock insurance will reimburse the estimated value of chickens and other fowls in your poultry farm that died because of fires, disease, drowning, accidental shooting, transportation upset, and other causes beyond your control. 

Cargo Insurance For Poultry Farms

Understand that livestock insurance might not grant coverage if the chicken and other produce die during transportation. The coverage of the insurance policy only applies to death or damage that happens during loading and unloading.

This is why it’s important to get cargo insurance. Cargo insurance will reimburse the market value of chicken and other produce that die or gets damaged during transit because of:

• Fire

• Theft

• Vandalism

• Negligence

• Vehicular accidents

Workers Compensation Insurance For Poultry Farms

Though machines are there to mitigate the need for labor, you’ll still need people to run things around. 

Consider getting workers' compensation insurance even though the state where you’re located doesn’t require it. 

Workers' compensation insurance is a quick solution to your problems in case a part-time or full-time employee sustains a work-related injury or disease. This poultry farm insurance will provide the funds you can used to cover:

• EMT services

• Hospitalization

• Medication

• Rehabilitation and retraining

• Lost wages

• Funeral expenses and allowance to dependents in case of death

Your worker's compensation insurance might offer an employer’s liability coverage as an automatic or optional add-on. Employer’s liability insurance can help cover settlements and defense costs if your poultry farm is sued by an employee who sustained a work-related injury or disease. 

Poultry Farm Insurance Cost

The average poultry farm insurance cost is $80 per month or $960 per year for a $1 million general liability insurance. It's important to note that several factors determine the cost of premiums. The most significant ones are claims history, business history, policy limits, and deductibles, annual revenue, and number of employees.

Here’s another table that shows how much the best poultry farm insurance companies charge for a $1 million general liability insurance: