Is there a new egg shortage?

[Brian Elfert]

I was at Walmart this evening and the egg section was completely bare. Signs were posted about an egg shortage. Is there a new egg shortage? I tried searching Google News and other sources about an egg shortage, but nothing.

I bought 18 eggs last week so I am good for now, but it seemed crazy that the entire egg cooler was bare. There were no dozens of large eggs last week, but I figured it was because I went shopping quite late in the day.

[Bruce King]

I saw something about a shortage of egg cartons causing that back around the holidays.

[Jim Koepke]

Our regular store was out of the 18 count packs a few weeks ago.

A lot of items are in short supply. The canned food section is often all the items stretched out one layer deep. Some odd brand items appearing in multiple places when other items sell out.

Something about a public health problem keeping a lot of people from work and canneries at full capacity.

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

Regional delivery problems can be weather related.

Minnesota and the windy Prarie states are more vulnerable to delays when major highways are shut, trucking staff reduced, etc.

[Lisa Starr]

I've noticed a sign in the Aldi store I shop that explains the higher price of eggs as there being a market disruption. Before Christmas they were $.44/dozen and last week they were $1.18/dozen. They don't indicate what the disruption is caused by.

[roger wiegand]

We had a Nor'easter this week-- the day before the grocery store looked as though the locusts had been through, no eggs, no milk, no TP, no bread, no lettuce. You'd think a snowstorm in MA was a rare, bizarre, and frightening experience. (we got 18" overnight, but the roads were cleared to wet pavement by 10 AM.)

[Tom M King]

No egg shortage at our house. The chickens have been laying like Summertime.

[William Chain]

If everyone would stop hoarding canned goods, paper goods, and now apparently eggs as if Earth is coming to an end, we wouldn’t have these problems. My local store cannot keep crap on the shelves. But the ‘zon can deliver cases of anything missing at the store. It’s infuriating.

[Zachary Hoyt]

Maybe the chickens are feeling mournful.

[Jim Matthews]

If everyone would stop hoarding canned goods, paper goods, and now apparently eggs as if Earth is coming to an end, we wouldn’t have these problems. It’s infuriating.
People are feeling panic. That's not a rational state.

When everything else feels out of their control, they can still go get things to bring home.

I would assert that's a survival trait, bred into our genome after eons of scarcity.

Have you ever seen the eyes if someone during a Panic Attack? It's as if they're entirely alone.

[Lee Schierer]

I was at Walmart this evening and the egg section was completely bare. Signs were posted about an egg shortage. Is there a new egg shortage? I tried searching Google News and other sources about an egg shortage, but nothing.

I bought 18 eggs last week so I am good for now, but it seemed crazy that the entire egg cooler was bare. There were no dozens of large eggs last week, but I figured it was because I went shopping quite late in the day.

Must be we were down to just one egg after I made breakfast this morning.:)

[David Dockstader]

I wish I understood the "Siege Mentality." Why, whenever there is a natural disaster, be it hurricane, Nor'easter, wild fires, whatever, there is always a run on milk, eggs, and bread. What is it that makes everyone want to go make French toast??? :)

[Brad Chenoweth]

Tom, do you light your coop to get your hens to lay in the winter? Here in NE Ohio, ours quit around Thanksgiving. It's staying light later now, so they'll probably start up again in a few weeks. We've never used lights, but I know some folks who do.

[Tom M King]

They have a heat lamp for below freezing nights. Every hen is laying an egg a day.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

There were eggs in our local grocery store last week.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I wish I understood the "Siege Mentality." Why, whenever there is a natural disaster, be it hurricane, Nor'easter, wild fires, whatever, there is always a run on milk, eggs, and bread. What is it that makes everyone want to go make French toast??? :)


What I like is they hoard milk and bread. What are they going to do? Make milk sandwiches? Here we have five Aldi's. Two are located in same neighborhood as both a Lidls and Walmart Neighborhood Market. Last week at Walmart NH market, eggs were $0.50 a dozen, while Aldi's was $0.88 a dozen. Milk is a buck fifty a gallon in those two stores. It's $2.84 in the others, and eggs are $1.44 a dozen. Most recently opened Aldi's is located next to Super Walmart. Instead of bringing Walmart's prices down, Aldi raised theirs to Walmart's. We have another Lidils opening this week, directly across from a Food Lion, where milk is $3.15 a gallon currently. Food Lion directly across the street from Aldi's carries two "in house" brands of milk. One at eye level is $1.79, while one on bottom shelf is $1.48. Same truck brings both of them, along with the "national" brand they sell. I willing to bet a stymulus check that they are the same milk, just different labels. Cows don't have special teats for different brands.

[William Chain]

Toilet paper and campbells soup do not make COVID go away nor do they make snow melt. It can be ordered to your door for the same price. Why clean out the local?

I worked in a mom and pop grocery store when I was a kid. It was routine - snow? Utter bedlam. Then a week later the same people are trying to return spoiled food.


People are feeling panic. That's not a rational state.

When everything else feels out of their control, they can still go get things to bring home.

I would assert that's a survival trait, bred into our genome after eons of scarcity.

Have you ever seen the eyes if someone during a Panic Attack? It's as if they're entirely alone.

[Brian Elfert]

This was the first time I had not seen a good supply of eggs in a number of months. No reasons for anyone to be in a panic around where I live. COVID is way down and no snow storms recently.

I went to Walmart for groceries the morning of Dec 23rd. It was right before a snowstorm that afternoon and two days before Christmas. It was busy. I drove by another grocery store on my way to Walmart and the parking lot was as full as I had ever seen it.

[Brian Elfert]

Toilet paper and campbells soup do not make COVID go away nor do they make snow melt. It can be ordered to your door for the same price. Why clean out the local?


I've found with both toilet paper and canned goods you usually pay more ordering online. Grocery stores will deliver, but there is usually a charge and a tip expected.

[Alex Zeller]

I think a lot of people thought buying chicks as the lock down began a year ago would be a great way to have a supply of eggs during the virus. But they didn't realize just how much it cost to feed them. So overnight it seemed like everyone and their brother was selling eggs. Usually they put the eggs in a cooler with a cash box so people can stop and go without any interaction. But now winter is here and zero degree temps I don't see people selling eggs. I suspect that they are realizing that it's not just the cost of the feed but the added cost of providing enough light to keep them producing eggs. As they cut back it's going to increase demand at the grocery stores. Once the days get longer I suspect that they will start feeding their hens better food again so they start producing eggs.

[John K Jordan]

They have a heat lamp for below freezing nights. Every hen is laying an egg a day.

What breed(s) do you have? I found some, like white leghorns and rhode island reds lay more in winter than some mixed breeds I have. I do have a white light on a timer. We always have more eggs then we can use.

I use heat lamps for the young peafowl but not for the chickens. Rarely gets below freezing here, especially in the coop.

[Zachary Hoyt]

We have only 6 hens left and they are almost 3 years old, but we are still getting 2-5 eggs a day, and have only had a a few days with 1 or no eggs this winter. We don't have any kind of heat or ight for our birds, but the winter coop has a 3x7 pane of glass in the south wall and a couple of other windows. It gets down to -30 here sometimes, and as long as we give them thawed water 2 or 3 times a day they seem to not mind the cold too much, they puff their feathers out for insulation, and stand on one leg at a time. Good ventilation without being drafty is what the books say is important, and we try to balance those things. The vents are up high, so no wind can blow directly on them.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

Must be regional. Was at wally world last night and the egg cooler, (about 30 ft long) was full. Got another 5 dozen box for $4.03.

[William Chain]

instacart and the like, yes absolutely. We found using those services that sale prices don’t always apply, and most prices are marked up a touch. Then there’s the delivery fee and the driver tip (the tip I totally understand, drivers gotta make a living, but don’t mark up every product then hit me with a delivery fee. Pick one.)

But I’ve now returned home four times from the local supermarket and hit up Amazon and found TP, paper towels, canned soup, and other canned and bottle stuff for less, delivered in 2 days or less. It isn’t short supply causing the problem. It’s nutballs causing the problem.


I've found with both toilet paper and canned goods you usually pay more ordering online. Grocery stores will deliver, but there is usually a charge and a tip expected.

[Tom M King]

What breed(s) do you have? I found some, like white leghorns and rhode island reds lay more in winter than some mixed breeds I have. I do have a white light on a timer. We always have more eggs then we can use.

I use heat lamps for the young peafowl but not for the chickens. Rarely gets below freezing here, especially in the coop.

My Wife keeps up with the chickens. She has a number of different breeds. They produce white, brown, green, and blue eggs. I mostly just eat the eggs. I keep the Ponderosa up, and she feeds me.

[Grant Wilkinson]

I'll chime in just for fun. We have no shortage here in the capital city of the Great White North. Of course, at Walmart, the 18 pack is on sale right now for $5.27, so that may be part of it.

[Jim Koepke]

Interesting how the prices vary from area to area.

It always surprises me in the store when eggs by the dozen sell for $0.99 and an 18 pack will be $1.73. Why 24¢ more to by the larger pack?

A lot of products are priced like that. Are they trying to make profit from the folks who take it for granted the bigger size is cheaper?

jtk

[William Chain]

What I like is they hoard milk and bread. What are they going to do? Make milk sandwiches?

This reminds me of one particular episode in the little mom and pop grocery in which I worked. One blizzard, this lady and her son come to the register with 4 gallons of milk (taken ahead of three people that didn't get to buy any at all, to their dismay) and 4 loaves of bread. The kid says to his mom "Mom, what are we going to do with all of this? We don't need this." She said "THEY'RE STAPLES!" in a really loud and irritated voice. Sure enough, 10 days later that same lady is back at my register trying to return 3 of the gallons, unopened yet now expired, and two loaves of rock hard bread. Dumb, Dumb, Dumb. It took so much self control not to say anything while watching the owner try to tell her she bought it, and that's that. He ended up relenting. She was awful every time she came in right up until the day I quit to move on with my life. How that owner didn't go out of his mind every day, I'll never know. He had the patience of a saint.

[Brian Elfert]

It always surprises me in the store when eggs by the dozen sell for $0.99 and an 18 pack will be $1.73. Why 24¢ more to by the larger pack?

A lot of products are priced like that. Are they trying to make profit from the folks who take it for granted the bigger size is cheaper?


The 18 pack of eggs at Walmart was no more expensive than the dozen by my quick math. It didn't matter if I wanted eggs since the dozens were gone.

When larger sizes of products first came out they were pretty much always less expensive. That has often reversed itself in recent years. Manufacturers decided to raise the prices on some larger sizes to a higher per unit cost than the smaller sizes. People are conditioned that larger means cheaper. One problem with large sizes of food at the warehouse stores is you can end up buying too much and throwing it out, or you overeat because you feel you need to eat the food you paid for.

[Stan Calow]

" . . . or you overeat because you feel you need to eat the food you paid for. . . "

THIS is the genius behind Sams Club & COSTCO. I heard this discussed by marketing experts on a radio program. They figured out that if you sell bacon in five pound packages, people will cook and eat more of it at one time. All about taking advantage of human nature.

[John K Jordan]

" . . . or you overeat because you feel you need to eat the food you paid for. . . "

THIS is the genius behind Sams Club & COSTCO. I heard this discussed by marketing experts on a radio program. They figured out that if you sell bacon in five pound packages, people will cook and eat more of it at one time. All about taking advantage of human nature.

We often buy oversized meat packages at Sam's. Cut them into reasonable meal-sized pieces and wrap and freeze.

JKJ

[Ken Fitzgerald]

We buy bulk quantities at Costco and repackage with a vacuum sealer.

[Ronald Blue]

Haven't been to the store here for a few days but haven't heard of any egg shortages. My parents always had chickens. The light was on around the clock in the hen house. The only heat lamp used was in the brooder house for the little chicks each spring. Just regular light bulbs in the hen house. It gets cold here and chickens ae surprisingly hardy. If there was a shortage of eggs in the store we have some farm sources available too.

[Pete Costa]

Haven't been to the store here for a few days but haven't heard of any egg shortages. My parents always had chickens. The light was on around the clock in the hen house. The only heat lamp used was in the brooder house for the little chicks each spring. Just regular light bulbs in the hen house. It gets cold here and chickens ae surprisingly hardy. If there was a shortage of eggs in the store we have some farm sources available too.

If you use heat lamps, make sure they are securely mounted and protected! Ours wasn't and we had an unintentional chicken BBQ. Thankfully the coop is not near the house. The fire chief who responded said it was the third chicken coop fire that month. Our new birds are in their new house with just a water heater and this https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/producers-pride-brooder-and-coop-heater-1299682?cm_mmc=feed-_-GoogleShopping-_-Product-_-1299682&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9KXCrt_R7gIViLzICh2NDQFfEAQYASAB EgKp2_D_BwE

Thr birds have been good so far in some subzero temps. We have a light on a timer and they've been decent producers.

[John K Jordan]

If you use heat lamps, make sure they are securely mounted and protected! ...

This is true. The chickens (and other birds) when moving around can get caught up in or try to land on any unsecured power cords in the space. I usually bring in the power and mount the brooder lamp up at the ceiling but if low in the building I mount it securely to a wall and secure the wire tight to the wall. I bring in power at the very top. Better to wire permanently with conduit but tend I change things around a lot.

Hey, if anyone is looking for a simple way to house birds. something quick to put up, my favorite cages for peacocks and such are 6' high 10x10' "dog" kennels made from chainlink panels. I usually put two together with a separating panel with a door for flexibility. Each 10x10 has a 6' and 4' panel on the top as a "ceiling" to keep the birds in and the varmints out. An "A" frame covered with tarps keeps most of it dry. I put cloth panels on the sides in the winter as protection from wind and move them in the summer for shade. Gravel on the ground, a stall mat inside for the feed and water. Sawhorses with 2x4s across for a roost. Goes up quickly, easy to take down or move if necessary. Practically fireproof!

A pair of these can house a lot of birds or with the separating door open give a few a lot of room for moving around (and breeding). Here's one I put up a few months ago, not yet fully occupied.

451348

My chickens have a real building but the cages are great for raising birds from half-grown to adult. I don't use the heat lamps with the adults or chicks with mothers - they have no problem with the coldest weather, at least in this part of the country. But all the birds (and dogs, donkeys, and llamas/alpacas) have heated water. No wonder my electric bill is high!

451349

I like that heater idea for young getting too big for the brooders - I suspect my barn cats would like one too. I need to go shopping.

JKJ

[Brian Elfert]

I went to a regular grocery store last night and the egg section looked normal. I also stopped at Walmart, but I forgot to see if they had eggs or not.

[Nathan Johnson]

My Walmart had eggs today.

[Alex Zeller]

We buy bulk quantities at Costco and repackage with a vacuum sealer.
I just wish the bags weren't so expensive.

I rarely shop at Costco as I would throw out too much stuff. It's too bad as they have some really good food but most of their food in bulk is too much for the wife and I. Buying it at the local store actually saves us money. I bet a lot of Costco shoppers have a freezer full of stuff they will never eat yet gladly return to "save" money.

[Alex Zeller]

...But all the birds (and dogs, donkeys, and llamas/alpacas) have heated water. No wonder my electric bill is high!
JKJ

I have a funny story that just popped into my head. Years ago a coworker was telling me about a problem he was having. His wife and son complained that they were getting an electrical shock when opening the steel gate attached to his barn. He just dismissed it. After about 6 months and the cold weather arriving he put a heater in the water trough for his beef. He said a big bull came over, stuck his tongue in the water and dropped to his knees like he had been shot. Once he got back to his feet he went to the far side of the pasture and would go close to the barn.

That's when he realized he had a problem. Not when his wife was getting electrocuted, not when his son was being zapped, but when the bull got it. He's kind of a cheap guy and when he built his barn about 20 years ago he used a glass screw in fuse panel because he had a lifetime supply of the fuses. He finally found his problem, well sort of. When installing the wire he drove one of the staples too hard and the hot wire was shorted to the ground wire. So anything that was grounded in his barn had power on it.

He's a nice guy and even after he retired we still see each other but electrical wiring is not his strong point. When i told him he had a much bigger problem he just didn't understand. There's no way a hot wire should be able to tough a ground wire and not trip a breaker or blow a fuse. But this is a guy who was convinced that he had a bad batch of CFLs because he would screw them in and in no time they would die. Turns out that he wired the lights with 240v, not 120v. It only took 6 bulbs before he realized his mistake.

[Jim Koepke]

We buy bulk quantities at Costco and repackage with a vacuum sealer.


I just wish the bags weren't so expensive.

I rarely shop at Costco as I would throw out too much stuff. It's too bad as they have some really good food but most of their food in bulk is too much for the wife and I. Buying it at the local store actually saves us money. I bet a lot of Costco shoppers have a freezer full of stuff they will never eat yet gladly return to "save" money.

How expensive are the bags?

We do not use a vacuum sealer. We purchase freezer bags at Costco and use those for storage.

An important part of buying at Costco to save is to plan ahead. Many people purchase something at a low price thinking, "that sounds good." Then it sits on a shelf forever because it didn't sound good enough to plan on using it.

My mother taught me to plan the first meal for a main item and plan ahead for using the leftovers. A large roast makes a nice meal, sandwiches the next day or two and then finally a stew of the meat and any leftover vegetables.

Yes, we do have a freezer. We recently purchased a used twenty cubic foot model as a replacement for our old one that developed problems.

We do not purchase five pound packs of bacon because we do not want to package it into separate one pound packs. We might not use five pounds in a year. A big pack of sausage might be a different story. It is packed in four separate packages that can be cut apart. One pack is good for a week of breakfast for me. Another pack for a pot of spaghetti or chili. They get used before they go bad.

Costco also has the lowest price on my favorite salsa. There is a Winco near by that is usually within a quarter to half dollar in price on a half gallon when we don't want to take the drive to Costco.

Buyers should also pay attention to prices. There are many items at Costco priced above what other retailers charge. Kirkland (Costo's house brand) Garlic Powder is a good deal and we always use it all before it goes bad. Some of Costco's meats are USDA Prime which will cost more than other retailer's USDA Choice.

It is a good idea to have something to eat before shopping at Costco or any grocery store. It will cut down on the impulse buying of all the good looking food.

The one thing that often bugs me about Costco is they have a buying contract with their suppliers. At one time between contracts they stopped selling my wife's favorite peanut butter. My taste in peanut butter isn't as picky but we don't need multiple brands of peanut butter in the house.

Most recently they stopped selling large bags of my favorite steel cut oats. Hopefully it will come back sometime soon.

jtk

[John M Wilson]

I just wish the bags weren't so expensive.

Buy a roll of the bag material -- quite a bit cheaper. It's not as convenient, because you have to seal both ends, but it's much more economical.

Here's a link to Amazon for what I buy, but there are a lot of different offers out there...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CQ8IXIK (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CQ8IXIK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

We use ours quite a bit by buying bulk meat (especially chicken) at Sam's and then re-bagging them into portions for two.

Good luck!

[Brian Elfert]

I went to Walmart again yesterday and plenty of eggs to be had. I wouldn't have thought it strange when they had no eggs a while back except they had posted signs saying there was an egg shortage.

(I tend to shop for groceries fairly often. I stopped at Walmart since I was going to Home Depot anyhow.)

[Ronald Blue]

If you use heat lamps, make sure they are securely mounted and protected!

Well aware of the dangers of a heat lamp that is either to close to a surface or falls. My parents never had anything like that happen. Those were the good old days. They are both gone now and I think it was probably in the 90's when they had the last of their chickens. All memories now. I think in the winter the eggs were gathered at least twice per day to prevent freezing.