Empty shelves and limited purchases. The nationwide egg shortage has not gone unnoticed by Coloradans. Much of the problem is due to a serious national outbreak of avian flu, with migratory birds as the primary vectors of disease.
The absence of those eggs is being felt around the state. Egg prices have soared, and businesses that rely on eggs as key ingredients are raising their prices as a result. Majd Fahd Chana runs La Petite French Bakery in Greeley.
Many French pastries depend on eggs for their texture and flavor, but that reliance on eggs is a challenge today. With egg prices rising, Chana says that he’s had to raise prices at the bakery by as much as 35%. And customers are reacting to the changes.
“They'll come like three times or twice a week. Now, they'll just come once a week,” Chana said.
He says he uses local organic eggs. They’re costing him three times as much as they used to.
The bird flu has affected the whole country, but in Colorado it’s been especially devastating. With over 6.2 million chickens affected statewide, almost all of the egg-laying hens that were in Colorado at the start of the outbreak are now dead.
Colorado State Veterinarian Maggie Baldwin says that the disease has an extremely high mortality rate.
“We've lost more than 90% of our table egg-laying hen population in the state,” Baldwin said.
When an outbreak is detected at a commercial hen house, all of the chickens inside are killed to prevent the spread. These farms can try to repopulate, but it takes time for egg-laying chickens to mature and reach peak production. In the case of an outbreak, farmers risk losing their investment in a new flock. That already happened to one of the largest egg producers in Colorado, according to Baldwin.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's most recent data, in November Colorado had about half of the chickens it did at its highest point in 2022. Egg production was also down by about a third compared with last year's high. With another 1.2 million chickens being killed by the virus in December, those figures are likely much lower now.
The shortage is also affecting those most in need. The Weld County Food Bank has stopped cooking with eggs because of the shortage. Bob O’Connor is the food bank's CEO. He said they had to switch suppliers after the start of the bird flu epidemic.
“We just don't have 'em to use there. So we're using other things and coming up with other kinds of meal choices,” O’Connor said.
O’Connor said they switched egg suppliers after their previous donor ran out. Nevertheless, he said the food bank will continue to distribute eggs to seniors in poverty.
As for when the egg epidemic will end, Baldwin said it's still hard to tell. Bird migration will be picking up in the next few months, meaning the flu will likely continue to ravage Colorado’s shrinking hen population.
