Egg Prices
 

Bird flue apparently is causing a shortage of eggs and prices are on the raise.

🐓One has to ask: "How does that effect the butchered chicken meat from the hens laying those infected eggs??" 🤢 🐤🐥🐣

If so, why isn't there a shortage of chickens and have the prices gone up?

The butchered meat from hens killed to prevent the spread of bird flu is not sold to the public, for sure.

Trying to talk my wife into buying some baby chicks and raise them to become egg layers.

Should be able to clean up as long as my wife agrees to do the cleaning.

Laying hens and Broiler hens are two different industries. Broilers have a much shorter life cycle and are not bred in the same places as laying hens. Laying hens that reach the end of their ability to lay eggs profitably are butchered, but not for the meat you and I eat. Generally for feed and pet food

Everything you want to know about eggs and chickens!


Just a moment...

General Tso's chicken will be a delicacy tomorrow.

Not a problem, one does not eat the hen that lays the egg, only the chicken that crosses the road, in about 8 weeks.

The only time a hen became Sunday dinner was they were so mean, you killed them to save yourself.

That is a good question! Regardless if a hen is raised for eggs or its meat, how can there be a shortage and disease of one and not the other?! And why are ducks and other birds not affected?

I asked my smartest friend, Grok3. Here's what it said.

Bird flu, particularly the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) strain H5N1, has indeed disrupted egg supplies in the U.S., leading to shortages and rising prices. However, its impact on butchered chicken meat availability and prices is less pronounced, and there’s a straightforward explanation for this rooted in how the poultry industry operates.

The key distinction lies in the two separate segments of the poultry industry: egg-laying hens (layers) and chickens raised for meat (broilers). These are different birds, bred and managed for distinct purposes. Layers are older hens optimized to produce eggs over a longer lifespan, typically starting at 18-20 weeks and remaining productive for a year or more. Broilers, on the other hand, are younger chickens raised specifically for meat, reaching slaughter weight in just 6-8 weeks. When bird flu strikes, it often hits layer flocks hardest because their longer lifecycles and dense housing in egg production facilities make them more vulnerable to outbreaks. Since 2022, over 157 million birds have been affected in the U.S., with a significant portion being egg-laying hens—over 20 million were culled in the last quarter of 2024 alone. This culling drastically reduces egg supply, driving up prices.

But what happens to the meat from these culled laying hens? Generally, they don’t enter the consumer meat market in large quantities. Laying hens are not bred for meat production; their bodies are leaner and less muscular than broilers, making them less desirable for butchering. When flocks test positive for bird flu, U.S. regulations require rapid culling—often within 24 hours—to contain the virus. The carcasses are typically disposed of through methods like composting, incineration, or burial, not processed for human consumption. Even if some were butchered, the volume would be negligible compared to the broiler industry, which raises about 9.4 billion chickens annually for meat. Moreover, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service ensures that sick or infected birds don’t enter the food supply, and cooking poultry to 165°F kills the virus anyway. Therefore, there's no significant influx of “infected egg hen meat” affecting the chicken meat market.

Why isn’t there a shortage of chicken meat then? Broiler production has been far less impacted by bird flu. USDA data shows that since February 2022, less than 0.0005% of U.S. broiler production has been affected. Broilers’ shorter growth cycle means farmers can replace culled flocks quickly—within weeks—compared to the months it takes to raise new layers and restore egg production. Plus, the industry maintains substantial reserves of frozen chicken in warehouses nationwide, buffering against supply shocks. This resilience explains why chicken meat shortages haven’t materialized despite the bird flu crisis.

As for prices, chicken meat costs have remained relatively stable compared to eggs. Egg prices soared from $2.17 per dozen in January 2022 to over $4 by late 2024—a 135%+ increase—due to the direct loss of layers. Chicken meat prices, however, haven’t seen a comparable spike. Broiler supply disruptions have been minimal, and factors like feed costs, labor, and inflation have a bigger influence on meat prices than bird flu does. Studies from Poultry Science analyzing 2005-2023 data show that while poultry prices (including chicken meat) rise during outbreaks, the effect is less severe and shorter-lived for meat than for eggs. The frozen stockpile and rapid broiler replacement cycle keep supply steady, preventing the scarcity-driven price surge seen with eggs.

To summarize, the bird flu isn’t causing a chicken meat shortage or significant price hikes because broilers are a separate, less-affected population with a faster recovery time and a robust supply chain. The culled laying hens don’t meaningfully contribute to the meat market, and strict safety measures ensure infected birds stay out of your grocery store. You’re not eating “infected egg hen meat”—you’re eating broilers, and there’s still plenty of them to go around.

Apparently?

People assume they are the same chickens but they’re not.

Egg laying chickens are different
 

I live in the same town as Rose Acres. They just had to unalive millions of their egg laying chickens. These chickens were hauled by trucks to a property and were buried in layers with dirt over each layer.
Egg laying chickens are fed a disgusting special diet which makes them unsuitable for humans to eat. They are different birds than the chickens we eat.

But don’t these broiler chickens also come from over five billion eggs? Perhaps the prices there will eventually go up, too. Or perhaps a lot of this is the gg distribution industry selling eggs for whatever the market will bear and keeping the profits. A culled flock of chickens affects the company owning that flock, but the company carries insurance for that. Just part of the cost of doing business. But that shouldn’t raise the costs of unaffected flocks. So the price is going up because the supply has gone down while the demand has remained the same. So they raise prices because they can get away with it because there is a convenient illness to blame.

We don’t eat egg laying chickens those are different birds. It takes 6-8 weeks to raise a chicken to its slaughtering weight which is around 3 lbs. thus no time to catch the flu.

It takes less that 2 MONTHS to raise a chicken to its slaughtering weight.