A case of the chicken flu
So what’s causing this drastic change in egg costs?
The answer is a combination of factors, including inflation and rising costs of feed for chickens. But the ongoing avian flu epidemic can be mostly pointed to as blame, according to the USDA.
A record 58 million birds have been infected with avian flu as of Feb. 1, the agency said. The prior record was in 2015 when 50.5 million birds died.
The infected birds must be slaughtered, causing egg supplies to fall and prices to surge.
This includes millions of cage-free hens California relies on to comply with Proposition 12, which voters approved in 2018 and phased out caged housing systems altogether. It also requires producers from other states to not use cages if they want to sell eggs here.
Since its passage, six other states have enacted laws that ban cages for egglaying hens. Three of those bans are now in effect, including Colorado and Washington, where conventional eggs were prohibited starting Jan. 1
But with a majority of U.S. eggs still produced the conventional way, the demand for cage-free eggs far outstrips what farms can supply.
Paul Maust, assistant manager at Maust’s California Poultry, has seen this firsthand.
The state is the largest consumer of eggs in the nation because of the population size, he said, but “now there’s less and less farmers here because there are so many regulations and rules.”
There also is no straight answer to when or if prices will drop, said Maust, who thinks costs will fluctuate as long as the avian flu affects supply nationwide. Sellers have to replace chickens and that takes time for egg production.
While California egg farms, like his, haven’t been affected by the avian flu, he said customer volume now is higher than any time he can remember.
“We have about 90,000 birds total and we’re constantly bringing eggs from each of our three farms, selling quick every day basically,” Maust said as a line of customers stretched out the door on a recent January morning. “We’re getting probably about 1,500 to 2,000 people daily, but this time last year, it was max 800.”
Mouw, the other egg farm owner up the street, has seen the same. Operating the business for 31 years and has “never had it like this before.”
“We still sell around the same but back then it would sell out at 5 p.m. and now, we’re rarely make it to 2 p.m,” Mouw said. “People are coming from across SoCal. We even had customers from Palm Springs last week.”
Raising birds
The recent demand in eggs has led some households to look for alternative ways to get their yolk fix.
In El Sereno, Kit and Naoko McConell have had chickens for the past five years. But only in the past two years have they sold eggs from their small urban backyard farm. The couple has 34 chickens and they sell eggs the same day they are laid.
Dubbed EggSereno, their small business is run through word of mouth and direct messages on Instagram. But interest in their small operation has picked up, evident by a waitlist that’s now more than 100 people long, Kit McConell said by phone last month.
“We just love people coming by and meeting the source of their eggs,” said Kit McConell, a full-time teacher. “We teach kids about chickens and get to know our neighbors along the way.”
The business “is not a profitable operation but it’s rewarding to provide quality eggs,” to the community, Kit McConell said.
In Riverside, Mark Sessa, 55, jumped in on the egg business more recently when neighbors began knocking on his door asking about his backyard chickens.
“I didn’t even know there was a shortage,” Sessa said.
He’s had chickens for the past 14 years, averaging about 10 total hens and producing eight to 11 eggs a day.
“Upkeep isn’t bad and it’s nice having chickens knowing how crazy it is out there right now with prices,” Sessa said.
While backyard chicken operations aren’t new, they’ve increasingly piqued interest since the start of the pandemic. People loaded up, and in some cases, hoarded supplies, including eggs, as the COVID-19 outbreak spread and orders to shelter in place were enacted.
Panic during the early days of the pandemic has waned, but Google search interest in “raising chickens” has jumped noticeably from a year ago.
That may be a reflection of the rapid inflation for eggs and people looking to save long term, Muast said.
Most recently, he’s a seen an influx of curious customers inquiring on buying chickens and how they can start their own farm at home. Muast’s sells chickens of all sizes and breeds, he said.
“They say the prices are too high, so they want to see what they can do with live chickens,” Maust said. “It’s been happening more often than not.”
‘Eggs are essential’
For Bernadette Casiano, 51, she was ahead of the curve when it came to backyard chicken farms. The full-time nurse has been running a backyard operation at her Hacienda Heights property since 2014 and selling eggs to friends for four years.
Casiano calls her urban farm her “homestead,” that’s currently filled with 20 hens. She even has a YouTube page that gives tips on how to grow vegetables and take care of chickens.
“I remember I was a little girl and one of my earliest memories was that my grandma had a chicken coop in her backyard,” Casiano said by phone last month. “That’s where it all started.”
But recently, her love of chickens has translated to a booming side hustle, something she never expected.
Casiano’s phone and Facebook account have been overwhelmed with interested buyers looking for eggs, which have become a hot commodity. A dozen eggs for $8 is a deal that many will pay right now, she said.
“I looked at my chickens the other day and said ‘I knew you guys will pay off one day,’” Casiano said. “People know me now as the crazy homestead lady and that’s OK.”
The spike in egg prices has provided Casiano with a new perspective on being prepared for whenever the next shortage of food product comes around. It’s something she hopes others will also learn from.
“I think as the world changes, all of us have to look at where our food is coming from and how we can be more sustainable and prepared,” Casiano said. “Eggs are essential to a lot of people and I think many are just realizing that now for the first time.”