Empty store shelves, outrageous prices, all over a popular grocery store item. The Avian Flu is making it more difficult to find eggs.
ABC15 asked on social media how much followers are paying for eggs.
Dozens say they paid over $5 for a dozen eggs and nearly $10 for a carton of 18.
That’s if you can find eggs. Several users say eggs are nowhere to be found on Valley store shelves.
‘Datasembly’ ran a year-over-year comparison for over 3,400 across the United States for 12-count cartons of eggs.
‘Datasembly’ reports egg prices in Arizona are up 80% from this time last year. They report Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico with the largest increases, all of them over 64%.
Dori Brown invited ABC15 into her backyard.
"I have a hen house and a coop, and I've got nine chickens,” Brown says. “I typically get anywhere from one egg to seven or eight eggs a day.”
Prices are way up as the supply has gone way down due to the Avian Flu. The CDC says over 58 million birds are affected.
In Yavapai County, there have been two outbreaks.
The sticker shock is even being felt by Brown.
"It's winter right now so my hens aren't laying as much as they usually do,” Brown says. “Their laying cycles are based on how much sunlight there is. Because we're having much shorter days, [the chickens] are not laying as much.”
“I actually bought a carton of eggs for the first time last week. It was like $10,” Brown says.
One woman in Glendale who owns chickens says she bought her chickens two months ago because of the price of eggs.
But many will have to wait. Brown says chickens won’t begin laying until after they're six months old.
