Got eggs? Maybe not for long! Egg prices are rising. Currently prices across the US range from $1.99 to $4.49 per dozen according to the USDA.
If you're like me, you rely on eggs for breakfast, for baking, and more. But it's likely that you don't have what I have -- I have my own chickens. More about that in a moment.
The problem? A bird flu epidemic that struck the midwest this spring. But we have to brace for Round 2. They expect the bird flu to hit the Southeast in the fall. Over 40 million birds were slaughtered in the spring, putting the squeeze on the egg industry. Supply drops, prices rise. Simple laws of economics.
So what are we seeing? We're seeing places taking eggs off their menu. Expect the prices of your favorite breakfasts to go up. Rita's isn't serving frozen custard, and fried rice won't have eggs in it, and you have number limits on the amount of eggs you can buy at some stores. It's going to get worse, not better, if the bird flu hits this fall.
I created an online course called Raising Chickens in your Backyard to help people who are as clueless as I was a few years ago to get up to speed on how to take care of chickens so that they have their own egg supply. As the prices rise, either we'll have, or not have, eggs in our refrigerator. It may be better to get them on your own.
If you're interested, there's an image of Henrietta asking you to join our course on the right sidebar.
Chickens are incredibly easy livestock to raise. They can take up part of your backyard, or if you have a few acres and a good layout, you can free-range them. They're relatively self-sufficient with the caveat that they cannot survive on their own without assistance, and you can collect your own eggs from the flock every day. It's also a great project if you have kids, to teach them more about where food comes from and how to take responsibility for their lifestyles.
So the way it looks right now, you can start looking into what to do to replace eggs in your diet -- or have a barn-raising (or shed-raising or coop-raising) with your family and find yourself some hens. You won't regret it.
Discount Coupon for Raising Chickens course
Data source: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/6-eggs-could-way-175638992.html
