Company: 50,000 or more hens died in egg farm fire

GRANT PARK, Ill. (AP) - A company spokesman says 50,000 or more hens died in a fire that destroyed two barns of an egg farm in rural northeastern Illinois.

Mussman's Back Acres Inc. spokesman Brian Burch says 275,000 to 300,000 hens survived the Tuesday fire near the Kankakee County village of Grant Park. The farm has a capacity of 350,000 hens.

Burch says the fire destroyed two barns and caused little or no damage to the three remaining barns.

Burch says the company doesn't know what caused the fire.

The farm about 40 miles south of Chicago near the Illinois-Indiana state line is owned by Martin, Michigan-based Konos Inc.