Why are Eggs so expensive?

Eggs are becoming more costly due to several factors. The biggest reason I had known about, but I was surprised that a lot of people around me didn’t know about the Avian Flu taking out millions of birds. If one bird gets it the entire flock is culled. Culled, is just a fancy word for disposed of, or killed, or taken out, because of the requirements by law. If just a single bird catches it from a wild bird’s contamination on your property. Of course, you are compensated financially per bird. But this doesn’t take into consideration the care and time, and love put into these birds. For backyard chicken keepers this is a higher toll because for most these are your pets. You want to protect your pets from outside attacks, but for the flu?-ouch. A lot of people who owns chickens are upset about this, and now people are seeing the impact in the stores.

I think a lot of people are also thinking about getting chickens to curb the cost of eggs at the store. For one, I do hope this encourages more people to start keeping chickens in their backyards again like years ago when we were not as reliant on the grocery store to provide everything for us. It’s healthier and empowering to accomplish things like caring for your chickens and having yummy eggs or meat as a result. Yes I love the grocery store and I will always go to the store for things I need, but it is an added benefit to have eggs right outside my door, and hopefully one day-soon, some veggies, and fruits as well. I don’t think the Avian flu should be an issue for most backyard chicken keepers. Considering they usually have much healthier, happier lives than Large scale operations, and that’s where you see most of the casualties from the avian flu.

Over 53 Million Chickens Killed in the US

(Not for food)

The avian flu killed that many chickens just Last year, and it’s a higher number than the year before. This doesn’t mean they all had it, it only means one bird had to have it for an entire flock which can be millions impacted in large scale settings. It doesnt mean backyard chicken keepers are exempt, but they are less common. You should still try and keep wild fowl away from your domestic birds. If you look at recent years, the price of chicken and eggs has increased.

How many chickens do we eat?

We eat an average of 8 billion chickens a year in the US. This is a big number, and even though the price of chicken meat has gone up, the numbers are not impacting the meat prices as heavily because it’s a smaller impact on a big number like that, but still with a price change from 2019 $3.02 per pound to 2022 averages at $4.32 per pound. With Demands increasing in the US and chicken being the most consumed meat in the US, you can see the impact.

How many chickens lay eggs in the US?

In 2019 we saw an all-time high in the US at nearly 400 Million laying hens. I also saw the lowest cost of eggs during this peak and the lowest cost of meat. 2021 is the most recent I can find at 389 million, with each year since 2019 you can see a decrease in total amount of hens. Now you can see there is a huge number difference between laying hens and chickens raised for meat. This means there is a bigger impact on the cost of eggs compared to meat. The average cost of a dozen eggs was 1.54 in 2019 and 4.25 in 2022.

Why Now?

If you are looking at laying hens they also lay seasonally. It’s winter and most chickens change their pace from an egg a day to either slowing down or completely stopping their lay cycle. If they are not getting supplemental lighting during the winter then they will decrease egg production. With all these chickens being taken out by the flu, we are getting docked on our egg supply because those numbers have to regrow. Literally, they have to grow. It takes a chick anywhere from 4-8 months to start laying. so with the season being the season they get taken out, they lay less, and there’s also the growing period for the flocks again.

Should I get Chickens to combat the costs?

This is going to be my next article, so I will see ya next week again!

Statistics were sourced from Statista.