Tag Archives: egg shortages

As egg shortages are on the rise American’s take to raising their own chickens

Important Takeaways:

  • Consumers nationwide are facing egg shortages at retail stores, leading to purchasing restrictions and sky-high prices when they are in stock.
  • The cost of eggs surged by 15.2% in January, according to the Labor Department’s consumer price index. This marked the largest increase in egg prices since June 2015 and accounted for nearly two-thirds of the total monthly rise in food prices, the Labor Department reported.
  • Whitney Bissonnette, an Arkansas-based chicken breeder, is fielding 50 to 100 messages every day from people asking to buy her chickens.
  • Jen Tompkins, co-founder of Rent The Chicken, a company that helps people rent chickens and provides all the necessary supplies, from feed to coops, has been flooded with inquiries, which have surged by 500% as of last week.
  • Stephanie Hall, who has a farm stand in South Carolina, told FOX Business she can’t keep up with the requests she has been getting from people seeking to buy her eggs.
  • Gina Bare, director of program and partnership development at the National Environmental Health Association, recognizes that the “rise in backyard chicken coops reflects an exciting trend in local food production, with families increasingly interested in raising their own flocks for fresh eggs and educational opportunities.”

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Egg prices to shoot up as 111 million birds have been affected by bird flu

Empty egg carton

Important Takeaways:

  • According to several reports, stores around the U.S. are experiencing egg shortages, and states that require cage-free hens are particularly hard hit due to rising cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), also known as “bird flu.”
  • CBS MoneyWatch. “Where we are hearing reports of shortages it’s at stores like a Whole Foods or a Trader Joe’s.”
  • As CBS noted, more than 40% of America’s egg-laying hens are raised in cage-free environments, with 60% of bird flu cases involving cage-free farms.
  • As of December 2, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 111,412,626 birds had been affected by bird flu across 49 states, which experts say is making eggs more expensive — not inflation.
  • However, birds aren’t the only animals affected by the virus. As Food & Wine previously reported, the bird flu was also detected in a batch of raw milk sold in California, triggering a recall. It’s also been detected in a child in California, marking the first positive case of the illness in a child in U.S. history.

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