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Dallas-Fort Worth area shoppers could find a dozen eggs priced between $2.50 to $2.99 at most area grocers this past week. That’s still about 40% higher than before the avian flu, but a bigger improvement from the peak price in January of almost $5.
The hen supply is recovering from the deadly avian flu that forced U.S. farmers to kill more than 40 million egg-laying hens last year. Wild birds, which were the source of the avian flu, are migrating north again. "By midsummer, we’ll know if the virus has run its course," Anderson said.It takes six months for chicks to become fully grown and begin producing eggs. The supply of hens laying eggs to be hatched and hens producing eggs to be eaten are both up from a year ago, Anderson said. "But we’re still behind."
Eggs were an average of $1.79 a dozen in December 2021, a couple of months before the avian flu caused 43 million laying hens to be euthanized. Eggs were big contributors to inflation last year as Dallas-Fort Worth grocery prices increased more than 14%, one of the highest for metro areas tracked by government economists.
Prices for cage-free, vegetarian-fed, organic and omega-3 eggs, which are produced by hens fed a diet containing flaxseed, are about twice as expensive as USDA Grade A eggs.