GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The avian flu, or bird flu, has forced farmers to kill millions of hens , reducing the country’s egg supply.
Because of this, egg prices have skyrocketed.
Area breakfast restaurants are feeling the effects.
“From the restaurant business, a breakfast restaurant, we go through about 5 to 550 dozen a week.”
The Pancake Place owner Theresa Barlament tells FOX 11…
“About 4 weeks ago we were paying $1.69 a dozen. This past week they rose to $2.69. There’s been a gradual increase but this week we saw the biggest jump there, $2.69 this week.”
Kellner Back Acre Garden owner Nancy Kellner has 2,000 chickens on her poultry farm in Denmark.
Luckily, her farm hasn’t been hit by the bird flu, but her eggs are in high demand.
“The commercial farms have gotten hit pretty hard, so they can’t get eggs from there. So they’re picking up organic eggs.”
The farm sells its eggs to several grocery stores in the area.
On top of bird flu, Kellner says the farm already had to raise its prices due to increased feed costs.
“The feed cost went up 200 dollars a ton. So that’s quite a big jump. That’s why we ended up raising our egg prices. Now because of all these commercial facilities getting hit with eggs, hopefully people will be buying more organic and that’ll drive the price up too because we’re not on a big scale like some of the bigger farms.”
Barlament says if egg costs continue to rise, the restaurant may reevaluate prices.
“I don’t want to change what we’re known for, our quantities and our quality of food, so what I would do is definitely take another price increase if this continues.”
Kellner encourages people to support their local farms during this time.
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