Photo via Nathan Hutchison

A walk through the grocery egg aisle might have shoppers rethinking how much they need that particular protein in their diet.

At the end of December, the price of a dozen eggs nearly doubled from $1.82 to $3.60 compared to the same period in 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Along with rising prices for poultry feed and transportation, what’s the main ailment causing rising prices for poultry meat and eggs? Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) or Avian (bird) flu.

Since early 2022, more than 49 million birds in 46 states have either died from bird flu virus infection or have been destroyed due to exposure to infected birds, reported the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this past November.

This figure is approaching the largest outbreak of bird flu in the U.S., which occurred in 2015, claiming 50.5 million birds in 21 states.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there are currently 15 affected commercial flocks, 11 affected backyard flocks and a total of 751,680 birds affected in this outbreak.

 

In its Egg Markets Overview from Dec. 30, 2022, the USDA reported that prices for cartoned shell eggs have begun to recede into the New Year as supplies become more available.

In California, a statewide quarantine has been imposed on imports because of the bird flu on all hatching eggs, live poultry and certain poultry products that originated or passed through an HPAI Control area, which has also led to supply issues.

Last year, 33,900 birds were culled on a Fresno County poultry farm to prevent the spread of the disease, according to a news release from the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

Fielding Family Farms in Prather has been in business since 2017, raising chickens for eggs and poultry as well as goats for milk. 

Owner Nathan Fielding said his flocks have not been affected by bird flu, but the hatchery where the chicks for poultry meat are sourced has been, which slowed down the shipment of the meat chickens they received last spring and late fall.

This year, the farm raised approximately 300 chickens and about 50 turkeys.

The farm also sold turkeys for Thanksgiving for the first time in 2022, and because of the virus, there was a smaller supply of turkeys this year, leading to higher prices.

Fielding said he first heard news about the virus outbreaks last summer, but in the farm’s time in operation, this is the first large outbreak that he is aware of.

Though keeping his birds’ environment safe is always a necessity, farmers need to be even more careful during an outbreak.

“If one bird in your flock is infected, then they have to destroy the whole flock,” Fielding said. “Those costs get passed right on to the consumer.”

It’s not always a farmer’s flock that will be carrying the flu, Fielding said, as any bird can carry it, including crows and pigeons.

Currently, there are no drugs that can cure bird flu in chickens.

If a farmer’s flock is destroyed, and they are starting over with day-old chicks, they will have to wait six to eight months for the birds to begin laying eggs. A meat chicken, or broiler chicken, reaches its slaughter weight after 40 days.

“For meat chickens, if you lost your whole batch and you’re starting over, the turnaround for that is a lot less, but you’re out the money in feed and the time you put in those chickens,” Fielding said.

With the rising costs for feed, fuel, transportation and rising costs of eggs, consumers can expect poultry meat prices to follow suit next year.

This year, Fielding Family Farms had to raise their prices by about $1.25 per pound of meat.

Nathan Hutchison, 16, a student at Liberty High School in Madera, is the owner of a business called Nate’s Chicks. He has been raising chickens for about six years.

Hutchison started with just a couple of chickens, but after buying the first two, he went on somewhat of a chicken shopping spree, ending up with a lot more than originally intended.

This led to a lot of eggs, and when he was in fifth grade, he began selling the eggs.

Currently, he has 62 laying hens and 30 show birds for judging competitions. The show birds are also bred.

Nate’s Chicks also raises and sells meat birds and turkeys.

Hutchison said he currently has no meat chickens because just recently, his neighbor’s dogs broke into their backyard and killed all their turkeys eight hours before processing. The neighbors reported him to the county, and he had to move his flock.

He is set to get 100 meat chickens this month.

In Hutchison’s time raising chickens, his farms — and those of other farmers that he speaks to — have not suffered an outbreak.

“We try to keep a very tight biosecurity on everything,” he said. “When people that don’t work on the farm come over, we make them wear different shoes, or dip the shoes in bleach solution. We also bleach the tire surfaces when poultry trucks come through.”

With the bird flu affecting egg hatcheries, Hutchison said he has seen an uptick in customers for Nate’s Chicks eggs.

He said that he regularly goes to grocery stores to compare his prices with those of competitors, seeing higher prices or empty shelves. Friends of his who also sell eggs have told Hutchison that they are seeing more customers as well.

“I’m expecting I’ll have to raise egg prices in 2023, along with my meat prices. I plan to increase my layers and raise 400 meat birds,” Hutchison said.