It seems that the price of eggs varies way beyond what it should. I recently paid 1.79 a dozen for x-large (in a discount supermarket), and it doesn't seem like that long ago when I was paying .69 a dozen. I can’t see any reason why the supply or demand should change that much. What am I missing?
The trucks that carry the eggs to the distributor and then to the store might use gasoline.
The cold weather is also putting a strain on the eastern US poultry farms, where most egg production is. It’s expensive to keep birds warm in poultry houses that aren’t equipped for it, and cold kills the grains that chickens are fed.
The cost of corn for feed has skyrocketed recently, also, due to ethanol production.
Is there a seasonality to egg laying, or have we breed chickens to lay the same amount of eggs year around?
I suspect it’s more a matter of farmers adjusting their flocks according to seasonal demand. Right after Easter, for example, the oldest hens are sold for meat.
Remember Chicken Run, where “Mabel’s gone on holiday!” ? Yeah, same thing.
There is a seasonality to the biology of the bird. In the wild, they would only produce eggs during days of long daylight. In modern egg production, we artificially provide long daylight hours so the birds produce eggs year-round.
However, most birds are only in production for a year until they are given a rest. Otherwise, the efficiency of egg production suffers. Exactly how they are rested depends on multiple factors like the price of eggs, the cost of feed, etc.
If the farmer decides to keep the same flock of birds for another year, then he’ll make the birds go through a molt. Basically, the farmer simulates winter: the quality and quantity of feed is reduced. The birds stop laying and shed their feathers, replacing them with a new set. After a couple of months, they’re ready to start laying again. It is very rare that a commercial flock will be kept for more than 2 years.
If the farmer decided not to molt the birds, they are sent to slaughter and a new flock of teenager birds is placed in the poultry house.
This happens year round, depending on how each individual farm is managed. The savvy farmer will have multiple poultry houses going, with the birds in different stages of production, so that the farm is providing eggs year round.
The seasonality AskNott refers to applies more to hatcheries, who have to provide lots of baby chicks for feed stores to sell as pets right before Easter. The rest of the year, the hatcheries only have to provide for their commercial consumers.
And don’t forget that eggs are a good loss leader. That disconnects the price from the wholesale cost enough to put a lot more variance into the price.
According to my parents, who are hobby farmers and friends with the owners of the local chicken range, the price of corn feed has skyrocketed and that is mainly what they use to feed the chicks. I believe Ma explained that is used to be around $4 for a 100 pound sack of corn feed and it’s now around $25.
This is also taking it’s toll on milk prices.
And correct me if I’m wrong, but I beleive all this is due to E85. Since E85 is made from corn there’s suddenly a much higher demand for it.
The expenses associated with egg production are more than just chickenfeed. [d&r]
Plus, every time bird flu hits a farm, the whole flock is culled. (Isn’t that just agronomese for killed?)
Usually when people say “it doesn’t seem like that long ago” it turns out that it was a long time ago.
So when was it, really?
I heard that they used to be so cheap that, during WW2, you could buy them for 4c and then sell them for 3C and *still *make a profit!
Culled is another word for killed.
[nitpick]Whether or not a poultry house is culled over bird flu depends on the strain they get. [/nitpick]
I know the OP is in the US but Canada has this great web page with historic egg prices. They don’t show a big jump in egg prices. That may not mean squat for US egg prices as food prices tend to be heavily manipulated by governments via various subsidies and other programs.
When I say “it doesn’t seem like that long ago” I mean not that long ago. Perhaps a year ago, which is not that long ago for someone my age.
If you’re looking to stretch your egg-buying dollar, try shopping around at different grocers. Some will heavily discount eggs as a loss-leader. Also, try calculating the price per oz and buying Grade A is perfectly fine if AA costs significantly more.