Egg$!

[Scott F]

I eat a lot of eggs and went to the Sam’s Club to get more. They had none! WalMart was totally out except for some jumbos that were $6.82 a dozen! I sure hope they can do something about this bird flu epidemic soon!

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

Walmart full of eggs near me $6.18 for 18 eggs.

[Rockhopper]

I am glad you posted this.  It just reminded me I have a bunch of salmon roe in the back of the fridge I need to take care of.

[J._Bricker]

How about $8.99 a dozen!? 

[TnRiver46]

Free for me ! Even got a dozen from a duck right now 

[GRiver]

Egg prices here are off the chain too.

@TnRiver46 the duck eggs I get from a lady near by have a huge yoke compared to the white. Super rich too too, love them.

[frenchy]

I wouldn't be surprised if the price never gets back to where it should be.

[gim]

I'm very familiar with this problem.  It's a significant part of my work right now.

 

The current strain of HPAI (highly pathogenic avian influenza) aka bird flu has affected more than just domesticated poultry.  We've found it in dairy cattle, wild birds, and other mammals.  Cats seem particularly susceptible to it.

The reason it's so deadly to domesticated poultry is because of how they are raised - in tight quarters by the thousands, indoors.  So the spread is like wildfire.  If a flock of layers, broilers, or turkeys gets it, they have to be euthanized.  Then the barn has to be cleared out, cleaned, sanitized, and sit empty for 30 days to clear the virus.  Then you have to line up a new flock which takes time and is in high demand right now.  For laying chickens, it also takes time for them to reach adequate egg laying age.

 

Flock after flock is being taken out across certain parts of the country.  That's why eggs continue to go up, if you can find them.  This problem is not going away either.  A new strain was just found the other day.  California has declared a state of emergency with their dairy herds because it's so prevalent.  It's not fatal in dairy cattle, but it reduces their milk production.

 

Luckily, it hasn't mutated or been shown to spread from person to person yet, and cases in people are still rare, although they are rising.  If it mutates to the point where it can more easily spread from person to person, get ready for pandemic 2.0.

 

This problem isn't going away on its own.  Egg prices will probably continue to go up.  Commercial poultry operations have implemented very strict biosecurity rules to try and mitigate the problem, but it's still happening.  I really feel bad for that business.  Imagine having to euthanize flock after flock of birds because of this.  It would be so devastating.  It's their livelihood on the line.

 

I don't mean to terrorize anyone here about it with post.  I just want people to be more aware of this.

 

[TnRiver46]

My buddy is one of the guys that has to euthanize the entire flock

[Kev-mo]

To add to what @gim said, the virus that's doing the damage is a bit mutated from previous "bird flus". This strain isn't killing the wild birds as quickly as previous strains allowing the sick birds to move around more, even migrate a bit which is causing global problems. This was on the radio the other day. I believe they also mentioned something about 18K seals down in S. America that were dead due the bird flu. Also with this jumping to more species and more birds than "usual" the mutation possibilities goes up.

 

I for sure was skeeved out while wading in December around dead and dying geese.

 

Hopefully we get it sorted......😬

[MonsterZero]

Unfortunately, the current bird flu epidemic is not the problem; it is a symptom, so to speak. Unsustainable and unsafe factory farming practices are the problem. As long as we prioritize profit over humane, safe conditions for livestock, this is going to keep happening. Think of how rapidly diseases spread through prisons, college dormitories, or schools. You have so many individual hosts packed so tightly together that the microbes spread and mutate very easily and rapidly. The same is true of factory farms.

 

It is worth noting that pasture raised eggs have not increased anywhere near as much, if at all, as their factory farmed counterparts. Eggs in the store where I work went up a couple dollars a dozen this morning; the free range and pasture raised eggs have not changed in months.

[gim]

Check this out. Stolen shipment of eggs! Lol it’s egg warfare out there

 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/after-100000-eggs-stolen-ceo-company-crack-security/story?id=118567012

[J Francho]

We have eggs. 
 

 

[Jar11591]

@J Francho for those prices I’ll just go to the farmers market and buy some duck eggs. 

[gim]

Honestly 8 bucks for an 18 pack seems reasonable compared to what I’ve recently seen for just a dozen.

 

That’s assuming you can find some too. Lots of retailers are wiped out completely. The OP experienced this.

[J Francho]

Those are England's Best too. It's only a matter of time before it hits us. We go through around an 18 pack a week. Formers market eggs may be the way to go, but they're really expensive there already. 

[Catt]

Two church members raise chickens, they supply the whole church free!

[DitchPanda]

Local store has a dozen large eggs for $6.....18pk for $12? Hard to believe they can run a successful business but not understand math. Bet they probably get some people though.

[J._Bricker]

The same store brand carton of a dozen eggs is now $9.49, I guess the better deal was the store brand carton of dozen and a half at $13.49. 

[J Francho]

My wife just got back from Wegmans. 7.19 for 18 XL brown eggs from EB. Full cooler of them. 

[softwateronly]

On 2/7/2025 at 6:15 PM, MonsterZero said:

Unfortunately, the current bird flu epidemic is not the problem; it is a symptom, so to speak. Unsustainable and unsafe factory farming practices are the problem. As long as we prioritize profit over humane, safe conditions for livestock, this is going to keep happening. Think of how rapidly diseases spread through prisons, college dormitories, or schools. You have so many individual hosts packed so tightly together that the microbes spread and mutate very easily and rapidly. The same is true of factory farms.

 

It is worth noting that pasture raised eggs have not increased anywhere near as much, if at all, as their factory farmed counterparts. Eggs in the store where I work went up a couple dollars a dozen this morning; the free range and pasture raised eggs have not changed in months.

 

I wholeheartedly agree.  As much as I dislike factory farming, mono crop agriculture, and the reliance on industrial scale chemical fertilization use the rate of human starvation worldwide has plummeted over the last 50 years.  I hope we can reign in and mitigate the awful conditions we raise our food in, but not lose sight that people matter more, and cost is everything in that part of the equation.  Not an attack just wish we'd talk about the tradeoffs more often in society.

 

scott

[MonsterZero]

19 minutes ago, softwateronly said:

 

I wholeheartedly agree.  As much as I dislike factory farming, mono crop agriculture, and the reliance on industrial scale chemical fertilization use the rate of human starvation worldwide has plummeted over the last 50 years.  I hope we can reign in and mitigate the awful conditions we raise our food in, but not lose sight that people matter more, and cost is everything in that part of the equation.  Not an attack just wish we'd talk about the tradeoffs more often in society.

 

scott

I have actually done some research on this topic, and frankly, we could cut W A Y back on our 'food' production and still produce enough to feed everyone currently alive in the planet quite comfortably. And we could do it humanely and sustainably, too. I will not delve into the politics involved, per forum rules, but just looking at the numbers is enough.

 

In the US alone, more than half of the grain we grow goes to feed livestock like cattle. I think the figure is usually around 60%, but will vary some from year to year. In addition to that, our food waste (again, these figures are only for the US) we waste tens of millions of tons of food every year. That is insane; all of this food that we spend time and money producing, packaging, and buying, straight to the landfill. Think of how many people could be fed with that, or how many acres of land we could stop tilling, or how many animals would not have needed to be raised and slaughtered. It is hard to wrap the mind around.

 

In short, it would be to our benefit to actually cut back on 'production,' it is just a hard sell to people who need to have a lot of variety.

[FishTank]

5 hours ago, MonsterZero said:

I have actually done some research on this topic, and frankly, we could cut W A Y back on our 'food' production and still produce enough to feed everyone currently alive in the planet quite comfortably. And we could do it humanely and sustainably, too. I will not delve into the politics involved, per forum rules, but just looking at the numbers is enough.

 

In the US alone, more than half of the grain we grow goes to feed livestock like cattle. I think the figure is usually around 60%, but will vary some from year to year. In addition to that, our food waste (again, these figures are only for the US) we waste tens of millions of tons of food every year. That is insane; all of this food that we spend time and money producing, packaging, and buying, straight to the landfill. Think of how many people could be fed with that, or how many acres of land we could stop tilling, or how many animals would not have needed to be raised and slaughtered. It is hard to wrap the mind around.

 

In short, it would be to our benefit to actually cut back on 'production,' it is just a hard sell to people who need to have a lot of variety.

 

I have volunteered here and they just don't help those in need, they rescue food from being wasted.  Truly an amazing place and organization. 

 

https://www.secondhelpings.org/about-us/

 

[gim]

21 hours ago, MonsterZero said:

it is just a hard sell to people who need to have a lot of variety.

It would also be a very hard sell on those production industries too.  The big meat conglomerates and the agriculture industry as a whole have a LOT of power.

[MonsterZero]

50 minutes ago, gim said:

It would also be a very hard sell on those production industries too.  The big meat conglomerates and the agriculture industry as a whole have a LOT of power.

Also very true, yeah.