STATESBORO, Ga. (WSAV) — With the price of a carton of eggs in Bulloch County nearly doubling because of an outbreak of bird flu, residents are scrambling to find alternatives – or go without.
"Fifty-cents an egg is absolutely outrageous,” said Billy Green, who was out grocery shopping.
Shoppers told News 3 that they’ve been skipping eggs at breakfast.
"Normally I buy eggs like every week but i haven't bought eggs now in several weeks because of the prices,” said Pamela Hill shopping.
The local Publix was selling a dozen for $6 at the lowest.
"It’s a big challenge to make an omelet these days because it hurts me in the wallet,” said Green.
While most are feeling the squeeze, local chicken farmer Don Jacobs wasn’t aware of the hike until his farm fresh eggs became a hot commodity.
"We can't keep them,” said Jacobs. “We cannot keep them. The phone, people calling, stopping by – yeah, we can't keep them on hand now."
DNR warns of invasive snail that could carry harmful worm
Jacobs has a few dozen chickens in his small coop. He tells me unlike commercial chicken houses their chicken's #1 threat are foxes, not bird flu.
"It's supply and demand,” said Jacobs. “The number of chickens are down, therefore there's less eggs and the prices are going to go up."
They set their price around $5 a dozen - a bit of a luxury price to get free range local eggs, but he told News 3 people don’t mind paying it now.
"We could probably get more now but we kind of hold the line at that,” said Jacobs. “We're not going to take advantage of the situation."
He said that the flu outbreak would put any henhouse four or five months behind since they'll have to start over by raising baby chicks into hens.
With Easter just around the corner, the demand for eggs will go up, which could affect the price once again.
