US egg prices more than double to national average of $3.59 trends now
The soaring price of eggs is ruffling feathers at grocery store checkouts across the country.
The national average price for a dozen eggs hit $3.59 in November, up from $1.72 a year earlier, the latest government data show. Prices have likely risen even higher since then.
A lingering bird flu outbreak, combined with soaring feed, fuel and labor costs, has contributed to the more than doubling of egg prices, and hatched plenty of sticker shock for consumers.
The eye-watering prices for the staple food item are putting stress on family budgets and the bottom lines of restaurants, bakeries and other food producers that rely heavily on eggs.
Amid widespread inflation, overall grocery prices were up 12 percent in November, even though the overall pace of price increases slowed a bit through the fall as gas prices eased.
The national average price for a dozen eggs hit $3.59 in November, up from $1.72 a year earlier, the latest government data show
A shopper checks eggs before he purchases at a grocery store in Glenview, Illinois on Tuesday. Anyone going to buy a dozen eggs these days will have to be ready for soaring prices
But egg prices are up significantly more than other foods - even more than chicken or turkey - because egg farmers were hit harder by the bird flu.
More than 43 million of the 58 million birds slaughtered over the past year to control the virus have been egg-laying chickens, including some farms with more than a million birds apiece in major egg-producing states like Iowa .
Everyone who approaches the egg case a Hy-Vee grocery store in Omaha, 'has a sour face,' said shopper Nancy Stom.
But even with the cost increases, eggs remain relatively cheap compared to the price of other proteins like chicken or beef, with a pound of chicken breasts going for $4.42 on average in November and a pound of ground beef selling for $4.85, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics .
'It's still an inexpensive meal,' Stom said. But the 70-year-old said that at these prices, she'll watch her eggs more closely in the fridge and try not to let them go bad before they get used.
If prices remain this high, Kelly Fischer said she will start thinking more seriously about building a backyard chicken coop in Chicago because everyone in her family eats eggs.
Red Star chickens feed in their coop Tuesday at Historic Wagner Farm in Glenview, Illinois. More than 43 million laying hens have been slaughtered in the last year to contain bird flu
A grocery store in Cheverly, Maryland, posts a sign to apologize for the increased price of their eggs on Tuesday
'We (with neighbors) are contemplating building a chicken coop behind our houses, so eventually I hope not to buy them and have my own eggs and I think the cost comes into that somewhat,' the 46-year-old public school teacher said while shopping at HarvesTime Foods on the city's North Side. 'For me, it´s more of the environmental impact and trying to purchase locally.'
In some places, it can even be hard to find eggs on the shelves. But egg supplies overall are holding up because the total flock is
