Buying chicks not necessarily the answer to high egg prices

Customers may have to wait, but chicks still available

For customers who walk into a local farm store, the “peep, peep, peep” of chicks might lure them into thinking that raising chickens might be cheaper than purchasing high-priced eggs.

“I compare this to the toilet paper fiasco of 2020,” said Nick Westphal at Runnings in Aberdeen. “People are panicking over the price of eggs and think buying chicks is the answer. That’s not necessarily so.”

Highly pathogenic avian influenza remains a major driver of price fluctuations for eggs this spring. A report from economist Bernt Nelson of the American Farm Bureau Federation estimates that 43 million birds were lost in January and February alone — representing 25% of all birds affected since the outbreak began in 2022. This disruption contributes to the frenzy to purchase chicks this year.

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