It’s no secret to anyone who has shopped at a grocery store within the past few months that the price of eggs has skyrocketed. The main culprit for rising costs – the average price of a dozen grade A eggs in the United States in January was a record-high $4.95 – is the H5 bird flu strain, which has caused farmers to cull millions of egg-laying chickens. Although the national outlook appeared slightly better in March, with no significant flu outbreaks and the supply situation improving, it had yet to impact grocery store egg prices.
The Impact of Bird Flu on Egg Prices
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, bird flu is widespread in wild birds worldwide and is causing outbreaks in poultry and U.S. dairy cows. As of this writing, the public health risk is low – 70 confirmed cases and one death – and no person-to-person spread has occurred, but the CDC continues to monitor the situation.
So how are local residents who raise their own chickens at home faring with the avian flu, and are they taking any specific measures to protect their birds from the virus?
Blair Grass, who lives in the Sandhurst community of West Ashley with her husband and 12-year-old daughter, has been raising chickens with her family since 2019. They currently have four hens comprising different breeds that lay a colorful mix of brown, green and blue eggs.
How Local Chicken Farmers Are Protecting Their Flocks
The Grasses have a fully-fenced backyard, and the hens, which are a little over a year-and-a-half old, are kept in a fully-enclosed structure with a metal roof and a screen door that is situated under an oak tree for shade in the summer. “Because they are covered, they are not exposed to other bird droppings,” said Grass.
While they hadn’t experienced any issues with bird flu at the time of this writing, they have been taking precautions, including restricting the chickens’ time spent out in the yard and intentionally not putting out feeders, which would draw additional bird traffic.
The Grasses are always careful entering and leaving the coop and wear the same shoes going in and out, which they specifically use for that purpose. They also wash their hands thoroughly after interacting and caring for their chickens and disinfect and clean the coop regularly.
Teaching their daughter a lesson about sufficiency and sustainability served as motivation for raising chickens. “We thought it was an important learning opportunity to understand where some of our food comes from,” explained Grass.
Kristy and Tom Hill started out raising four chickens that they bought from Tractor Supply when they lived in Moncks Corner. Now they reside on family land in Cottageville, in a more rural area where they have been able to expand their flock.
The Hills began with 16 chickens, but some of the older birds weren’t laying and that number was culled to nine. With a roster of eight hens and a rooster, they bought an incubator for egg hatching and brooding. At the time of this writing, they had eight chicks that are 5 weeks old and 10 chicks that are 2 weeks old for a total of 27 chickens. They will raise the chicks until they are grown.
Precautions and Care in Chicken Flocks During Bird Flu Season
The Hills said they have not been concerned about the bird flu infecting their chickens due to several reasons. One is that their chicks come from their own flock, so they know they are well, said Kristy.
“Raising your own chickens is a safety precaution in itself,” she stated.
In addition, they aren’t free-range. “They’re all penned up,” added Tom. And there is a cover over the top of the pen to keep them away from other birds. Tom noted that their neighbors’ chickens are also healthy. “No one’s chickens around us are sick,” he said.
Their motivation for raising chickens revolves around their passion for the outdoors. Tom enjoys being out in the woods and Kristy “loves being outside and gardening,” and tending to the chickens is part of that. Having fresh eggs isn’t a bad thing either. “I like baking, and I love eating eggs,” said Kristy.
Additional sources:
CDC – cdc.gov/bird-flu/situation-summary/index.html
Associated Press – apnews.com/article/small-business-egg-prices-shortage-bird-flu-bab4d891b90d2c346629aeeb7a7a81c7
USDA – ams.usda.gov/mnreports/ams_3725.pdf
By Colin McCandless
