In 2023 the current egg shortage has been caused by the rising outbreak of the avian influenza also known as bird flu. The avian flu affects chickens, birds, and turkeys which affects tens of millions of laying-egg birds nationwide leading to the increase in egg prices.

“Being highly contagious and dangerous, farmers have had to kill entire flocks of chickens if one or more test positive for the avian flu in order to stop the virus from spreading. This has caused a decrease in population size in roughly 44 million laying hens.” reported The New York Times

At Costco, people have been waiting before opening hours to be able to purchase eggs, even so they have to wait in a long line. Each person is also limited to two cases. Due to eggs costing more, various individuals have begun thinking of investing in their own chickens in order to have free eggs and to cut off the amount of money being wasted in purchasing eggs.

I agree that after a while it is worth the expense and it can be supported in the long term. The reason why is because after you invest in chickens it will help out in getting eggs regularly, not having to spend time buying them, and it’ll be less money wasted.

“Since I did have my chickens for awhile, they were already laying eggs so it would’ve been way easier to get a hold of eggs, free eggs especially during this egg shortage and now we’re wasting way more money buying eggs than we did having them, it would’ve been such a big help” says Jasmine Mendez (‘24)

In different perspectives, having to wait a couple of months for chickens to start laying eggs and the amount of money that is put in for a healthy nutrition isn’t the most ideal option to some people because of the lack of eggs happening right now. It may be hard having to be on the lookout to make sure they don’t catch the avian flu.

`Nevertheless, having backyard chickens isn’t only about getting supplied with fresh and free eggs, they also bring many benefits to the yard they are in with soil aeration which further helps the micronutrients where they are being kept in. Chickens can also boost your mental help by being around them.