Bird flu, demand affecting local egg prices and supply
Published 10:16 pm Saturday, January 25, 2025
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
NATCHEZ — Miss-Lou shoppers have reported not only the high price of eggs but also a shortage of them in area grocery stores.
Walmart stores in Natchez and Vidalia have reported on its mobile app until Friday that eggs were completely out of stock.
Natchez Markets District Manager Burrell Book said his stores have had trouble getting eggs and that prices are “outrageous.”
“I think it’s basically caused by the Avian Flu. Retailers nationwide are battling it,” Book said. “We are paying outrageous prices for eggs. The one making the money is the middleman. The egg producers are probably paid only 50 cents a dozen.”
He said usually brown eggs don’t sell as well as white eggs in retail stores, but even brown eggs are selling out.
The egg shortage is a nationwide problem. According to Axios.com, an avian influenza outbreak is growing and has affected nearly 13 million birds in the last 30 days. Some retailers are limiting how many eggs consumers can purchase, while others are having a hard time keeping shelves stocked. “It’s really a crazy situation and an unfortunate situation for consumers because the supply situation is what it is due to the bird flu,” Jason Hart, CEO of grocery chain Aldi, said.
Across the nation, egg prices are reaching record highs due to the shortage. In the Southeast, a dozen large eggs cost more than $7, according to national reports.
Two outbreaks of Avian Flu have been reported in Mississippi recently. On Dec. 20, 2024, a Greene County poultry producer reported Avian Flu among a flock of 26,000 chickens and on Dec. 30, 2024, a Copiah County poultry producer reported Avian Flu among a flock of 210,000 chickens.
The price and limited supply of eggs in Miss-Lou grocery stores have sent shoppers to local farmers who raise chickens for their eggs.
Marybeth Dawes raises 90 to 100 chickens for their eggs at her Gilead Arabian Farm at 254 Lower Woodville Road, Natchez.
“We have been raising chickens for about 20 years,” Dawes said. “We have eggs of various colors because we have between 16 and 18 different breeds.
“I took some eggs down to the pharmacy just to give them as a gift and there were people there who were interested in buying some. I got a new customer out of that,” Dawes said.
She isn’t concerned about her chickens contracting Avian Flu. Her chickens are healthy, Dawes said.
“We periodically lose a hen every few months, but something like that would go through the whole flock quickly,” she said.
Dawes is looking for new egg customers. Anyone interested in them is asked to call her at 601-597-2272.
“I hope anyone who wants to buy eggs will call or text first. I don’t wash the eggs until I have a market for them. They last longer if they aren’t washed,” she said.
A dozen eggs cost $5, which fluctuates depending on how many eggs her chickens lay. “Most of the time, they lay pretty consistently.”
Dawes advises once fresh eggs have been washed, they should be refrigerated.
“When refrigerated, they will last a couple of weeks, maybe three, just like regular store-bought eggs.”