Avian flu outbreak raises egg prices, empties shelves

There’s no riddle here: It’s the chicken, not the egg.

A highly pathogenic avian flu strain has been circulating in North America since 2022, and it has recently taken root at poultry farms across the country, according to New Mexico Livestock Board officials. The strain is lethal in many kinds of birds, forcing suppliers to destroy flocks of egg-laying chickens. The result: Egg prices are up, shelves are empty and grocery stores have set limits on the number of eggs each customer can buy.

“Due to a supply shortage, availability may be limited in the coming weeks,” read a sign next to a nearly bare egg section at the Sprouts Farmers Market on San Mateo in Albuquerque on Thursday. “Limit four dozen per visit.”

Prices ranged from $5.79 to $7.99 for a dozen eggs on the shelves. An 18 pack of eggs at the Smith’s at Wyoming and Paseo Del Norte NE was going for $7.39 last week. Other grocery stores in the city were also raising prices on eggs or limiting how many could be purchased at once.

The volume of egg sales decreased 62% for out-front businesses in the last week, according to a U.S. Department of Agricultural Egg Markets Overview published on Friday.

“It’s hard for us to predict what the economic impact is going to be and how long it’s going to last,” said Dr. Samantha Holeck, a veterinarian with the New Mexico Livestock Board.

Avian flu can spread more easily when animals are migrating as the seasons change.

“We’re entering probably the higher risk season for wildlife migration ... from now until February or March,” she said. “We’re going to be on high alert for (suspected avian flu) calls.”

Currently, she said New Mexico doesn’t have active cases of avian flu in poultry flocks, though testing is ongoing.

New Mexico has few commercial poultry operations. The largest such operation in the state had cases of the virus last year that led it to “depopulate” three of its four flocks. There have also been backyard flocks that were infected with the virus in recent years, Holeck said.

New Mexico isn’t immune from the economics of the avian flu outbreak because it imports most of the eggs that are sold at grocery stores. When a poultry farm becomes infected with the virus, the chickens and eggs will be destroyed.

“You multiply that by several farms, several states, and now your egg supply has dropped tremendously,” Holeck said. “It’s the law of supply and demand.”

Reports of human cases of the virus are very low. There have only been dozens of infections in people who work in the dairy industry and have euthanized flocks of birds. Personal protective equipment has become standard in the industry, Holeck said.

Consuming eggs purchased at grocery stores doesn’t carry risks of catching the disease, she said.

The poultry industry recovers remarkably quickly from an outbreak of avian influenza, Holeck said. Chickens can start laying eggs about 18-22 weeks after hatching, according to the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The latest strain — H5N1 — can also affect mammals, including sea lions, skunks and cattle, Holeck said. New Mexico does have a significant amount of dairy farms, and the cows have become infected.

While the virus isn’t nearly as fatal in cows as it is in chickens, Holeck said the disease does cause a sudden and significant decline in milk production. The virus can infect 10-20% of a herd at a time, and a sick cow can go from producing 85 to 90 pounds of milk per day to almost zero pounds in 48 hours.

“It can heavily impact their market for a short period of time,” she said. “Most of them recover really well.”

For farming operations, Holeck said the best precaution is biosecurity. For example, some operations keep calves at one facility and milking cows at a different facility to minimize the risk of exposure.

While there aren’t many large-scale poultry farms in New Mexico, many people throughout the state have backyard chicken coops, which could be wiped out if a hen gets infected.

Zane Kelly, of Corrales, and his family have raised chickens on their acre property for all his life.

“We’ve always had chickens because we’ve always had room for them. They’re entertaining, they’re pets,” he said. “We don’t use any of our chickens for meat, but getting eggs from them is really just a bonus.”

His family will do what it can to try to help the flock during the latest outbreak. He said things like bird feeders and feral cats can bring the disease to the coop’s doorstep.

“It makes me worried. ... It would be terribly sad, though I understand that it would be necessary to get rid of them because I’m pretty sure it’s just an absolute fatality for birds,” he said. “Being around chickens, even for a minimum amount of time, taking care of their needs, you start to notice that each of them has a personality. They’re all little individuals.”