Bird flu partly responsible for soaring egg prices

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REDMOND, Wash. (KING) — Inflation has hit every sector of the economy, as evidenced by your grocery bill.

For one element, however, there is one factor that has a strong effect.

Bird flu is hitting farms hard, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimating that nearly 58 million commercial and backyard birds have been affected in the past year across the country.

An example of the impact of the virus is in Washington at the Red Barn Farm.

While inspecting a chicken coop, owner Chelsea Carrigan found only one egg, a disappointing result, but a common occurrence for many farms across the state.

Bird flu definitely hit us, Carrigan said.

It’s a challenge Carrigan has been taking on since May 2022, when bird flu was first detected in the state.

A wild bird walking into their coop, and the next thing you know 10 birds, 20 birds, 30 birds, Carrigan said. They just drop dead.

Carrigan said they had to close the agritourism for fear the flu would come to his farm. The farm has also tried to cover their runs as much as possible, so that wild birds do not enter.

We also do health checks on them, Carrigan said.

As well as the impact of bird flu, she believes unpredictable seasonal changes have also been a major cause of her hens having difficulty laying eggs.

Eighteen eggs on some days, when we usually got 15 to 18 dozen at this time last year, Carrigan said.

She said the lack of production and rising costs of chicken feed and cartons caused her to raise her own prices.

A nearby breakfast staple has already been struggling with similar issues for months with its own supplier.

Outrageous, as you’ve seen in grocery stores, that you pay so much more for your eggs and all your breakfast items, said Anne Harris, the manager of Redmond Family Pancake House.

Harris said that in her 30 years of working at the restaurant, she had never seen eggs cost so much.

She estimated that her suppliers had raised egg prices by around 60%.

However, Harris said that was just the price of doing business and that it was better to have eggs at home than to scramble to find them at the market.

We hope people will continue to come in and eat the eggs, she said.

Washington state wildlife officials said as of mid-December there were more than 90 confirmed positive cases of bird flu statewide.

Copyright 2023 KING via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.

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