Bird Flu impacts egg prices

WENDELL, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — If you’ve been to the grocery store, you’ve probably been surprised by the cost of eggs.

Paula Simerly, owner of Simerly’s Market, said years ago they would buy a dozen eggs for $1.40 and sell them for $1.99. But now they are paying $5.99 to buy a dozen eggs, and prices for customers can be anywhere from six dollars to eight dollars a dozen due to the Bird Flu impacting the supply chain. The cheapest eggs are difficult to come by.

“There’s now a supply shortage of brown eggs, cage free eggs, those kinds of things,” Simerly said.

Simerly said she hopes egg prices can go down by Easter. But cases are rising across the country, but in Idaho as well.

“Unfortunately we seem to be in a crescendo period, we are seeing an increase number of reports of sick birds,” State Veterinarian Scott Leibsle with the Idaho Department of Agriculture said.

Leibsle added these bird flu cases in Idaho are mostly with those that are raised by people in their backyard with the latest report from Canyon County. He added the virus can kill large numbers chickens quickly without them even displaying any symptoms. When the virus infects larger poultry facilities, it can be very devastating.

“If a bird does survive an infection of bird flu, they are potentially at risk for continuing to shed the virus and so the only we know to truly eliminate an ongoing risk of spreading the virus is to eliminate all potential sources of it,” Leibsle said.

This has led to a massive culling of chickens, ranging from thousands to even millions. Leibsle said they can test chickens, both when they are dead and alive, and the test takes 24 hours. However, due to how the virus can stick to clothes, boots, and can spread rapidly, poultry producers have to follow protocol and humanely euthanize the chickens.

Data shows that while there is 375 million laying chickens, that number is three percent less than the previous years. It might not seem like that much, but it has ripple effects which hamper the supply of eggs available to grocery stores, which in turn, affects prices.

Chickens are producing over eight billion eggs a month, yet they are still expensive.

“If we were staying on trend from 2023 is somewhere around 9.3 billion eggs per month, in reality we are a little closer to 8.9 billion eggs, so there’s 400 million eggs there that we don’t have coming at us from a monthly basis,” Brett Wilder, University of Idaho Assistant Professor & Area Extension Educator, Farm Business Management said.

Wilder explained that shortage means grocery stores get less than they normally get. He added that since eggs are in high demand from customers, it also adds on more to the price. He said the prices of eggs will remain high until the demand changes, or unless more hens are introduced into the market.

Wilder added it might take six to eight months if the poultry industry puts a lot of effort into it, but that does depend on the resources and the bird flu.

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