As egg prices soar, the deadliest bird flu outbreak in US history drags on

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The ongoing bird flu outbreak in the US is now the longest and deadliest on record. More than 57 million birds have been killed by the virus or culled since a year ago, and the deadly disruption has helped propel skyrocketing egg prices and a spike in egg smuggling.

Since highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) was first detected in US birds in January 2022, the price of a carton of a dozen eggs has shot up from an average of about $1.79 in December 2021 to $4.25 in December 2022, a 137 percent increase, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Although inflation and supply chain issues partly explain the rise, eggs saw the largest percentage increase of any specific food, according to the consumer price index.

And the steep pricing is leading some at the US-Mexico border to try to smuggle in illegal cartons, which is prohibited. A US Customs and Border Protection spokesperson told NPR this week that people in El Paso, Texas, are buying eggs in Juárez, Mexico, because they are "significantly less expensive." Meanwhile, a customs official in San Diego tweeted a reminder amid a rise in egg interceptions that failure to declare such agriculture items at a port of entry can result in penalties up to $10,000.

Foul effects

Still, America's pain in grocery store dairy aisles likely pales compared to some of the devastation on poultry farms. HPAI A(H5N1) has been detected in wild birds in all 50 states, and 47 have reported outbreaks on poultry farms. So far, there have been 731 outbreaks across 371 counties. At the end of last month, two outbreaks in Weakley County, Tennessee, affected 62,600 chickens.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/01/as-egg-prices-soar-the-bloodiest-bird-flu-outbreak-in-us-history-drags-on/

[Ferrets are Cool]

1. As bad as the prices are, it could be worse...

your last reincarnation could have been as a chicken.

[Meadowoak]

2. I refuse to buy eggs until they come back down to $1 per dozen.

[Deuxcents]

3. Thom Hartmann spoke about this today on his radio show

I didn’t think much of it but it’s really serious as that strain is now in mammals 🙀

[rso]

4. Eggs

I don’t understand how the price of eggs skyrocketed while the price of chicken went up just slightly.

[underpants]

5. Different birds

Egg layers vs roasters ( I think that’s what they are called) with enhanced growing - they are often so big they can reproduce.

[NickB79]

7. It takes a lot longer to rebuild a laying flock

Modern hybrid meat breeds can go from hatch to slaughter in under 2 months.

Egg breeds though don't start laying until 6 months, and don't hit their peak until 1 year.

So, you cull a flock of meat birds, and you can be back to cranking out product in 1/3 to 1/4 the time of an egg flock.

[Emile]

9. Chickens are chickens! Don't believe the hype from

powerful corporations to jack up prices!

[NickB79]

11. Except, they're not

A Cornish cross, the hybrid breed used for meat, is a speed-demon monster. It grows massive breasts and thighs in only 8 weeks, and will get so overweight it will die of a heart attack before even getting old enough to lay eggs. You don't breed them at home; they have to be purchased as chicks. Last time I raised them, they tried to strip my garden bare before I decided it was time to fill the freezer.

The main white egg layers today are Leghorns, which are scrawny things that MIGHT yield enough meat to make a pot of chicken noodle soup. Practically no breast meat to speak of. But they'll lay up to 300 eggs a year!

Personally, I raise old-fashioned, dual-purpose breeds like Wyandottes, Orpingtons, Australorps and Brahmas that give meat AND eggs. Or at least, I did originally. I've been letting my flock breed and sustain itself for so long, they've all crossed into something unique to my farm.

[Just A Box Of Rain]

14. We raised dual-purpose Rhode Island Red bantams here in our large suburban LA backyard

for decades. I really enjoy having chickens. Their behaviors made me realize how fitting the many expressions that have entered the American lexicon as a result of people keeping chickens really are.

Unfortunately, we lost the last flock to an awful racoon attack. It was bad.

To the other point, there are those who ignore science and the laws of economics and who are openly hostile to market economies who claim the avian flu is nothing but a conspiracy designed to cover the greed of "predatory capitalism."

What can one do?

[Emile]

18. Which came first the chicken or the egg 🥚?

[Marthe48]

16. I read early on that it was safe for humans

to eat the meat from the affected chickens. Even if the chickens are being killed to prevent the spread of bird flu, most of them can be processed. As I understand it. And even if some of the flocks are destroyed, still not as many chickens are killed by bird flu as in normal demand. Also, as I understand.

[underpants]

6. I saw the number 44M just a week or two ago

Damn. They way they are killed is truly horrible too.

[Mr.Bill]

8. I wonder what percentage of the chickens killed

were chickens whose main use was current egg production.

[Demsrule86]

10. I call BS...it is gouging. And in fact our eggs are down in North East Ohio...2.69 at Aldi.

[werdna]

13. Varies greatly from one location to another:

Stow, OH Aldi is $4.05 today.

[Marthe48]

17. 4.99/doz. at Aldi Marietta, Oh

and 4.79/doz at Kroger. Kroger passed out a coupon for .40/off a carton of 18, and even then, more than I cared to pay. I left the coupon in the egg section.

I'm thinking of painting rocks for Easter.

[werdna]

12. It's not so much avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) as it is -

- price GOUGING:

Cal-Maine’s gross profit jumped 10-fold from one 26-week period in 2021 to the same period in 2022, according to the company’s most recent quarterly financial statement. For the 26-week fiscal period ending in November 2021, gross profits were $50.4 million. In 2022 for the same period, gross profits were $535.3 million.

https://dailyyonder.com/egg-prices-and-profits-rise-accusation-of-price-gouging/2023/01/23/

[roamer65]

15. Egg smuggling?

Ok now the world is truly going upside down.