A local farm owner said egg prices continue to increase because of increasing cases of Bird Flu.
Whispering Wind Farm Co-Owner Betsy DelBene said waterfowl spread the flu as they often stop at water sources near poultry facilities during migration. DelBene said when a poultry farm is infected it brings severe consequences.
“According to the USDA they have to quarantine and destroy every bird,” DelBene said. “They can’t just inoculate you know certain birds that are showing symptomatic. So you are talking about poultry farms that are having to destroy as many as 100,000 birds which you know is catastrophic for any farmer much less the farmers here in Tennessee.”
DelBene said currently there is still a supply of eggs but that supply is rapidly diminishing. DelBene said she expects egg prices to rise even more. DelBene said she thinks the days of 89 cents for a dozen eggs are over.
“It’s really gonna depend on these farmers that have been hit on what they decide to do,” DelBene said. “If you have somebody who has 100,000 birds producing daily and they decide not to go back into it, you know that’s a hit on the market. The supply is gonna go down.”
The average person may wonder why egg prices are going up while the price of chicken meat is not seeing the same price hike. DelBene said chickens for eggs are much different than chickens for meat.
“An egg-producing farm your chickens have to be between five to six months old to start laying,” DelBene said. “A meat-producing farm your turnaround is 12 weeks from the time the egg hatches till the time that they are meat size, so you are only talking three months and you know if your eggs come up contaminated you’re only talking about destroying those eggs. You still have 30 days to incubate more. It’s not the same thing as you know having an egg production farm.”
DelBene said she knows a West Tennessee egg farmer who has been impacted but not anybody locally in the Upper Cumberland. DelBene said it may be luck or maybe due to the geography of the Upper Cumberland.
“Because of the way the plateau is in Middle Tennessee a lot of migratory birds swing west of us and the corridor for migration is a lower elevation than where we are at so I think that plays a part of it,” DelBene said.
DelBene said she has customers who are starting to look for small farms or homesteads for a source of eggs as it will be cheaper and more consistent. DelBene said a good way for farmers to prevent the bird flu is having farm dogs as farm dogs will bark at the birds preventing them from landing at retention ponds and other water sources.
