The lingering effects of the egg shortage
What exactly happened with the egg shortage??
Towards the end of 2023, there was suddenly a shortage of eggs as a result of Avian Flu in South Africa. Essentially, thousands of chickens were culled due to an outbreak of Avian Flu. This meant a reduction in the number of eggs being produced for hatching. So chickens that were producing eggs for consumption were being culled, and hens producing eggs to be hatched into new replacement layers were being culled. It was a double whammy - less eggs, and less hens. This meant the strain on the system would last several months until new hens could be raised to laying age (approx 5 months) that can lay eggs to be raised into production hens that will produce eggs (a further 5 months).
So while consumers instantly felt the shortage of eggs, producers behind the scenes felt the impact all round. Many farmers lost entire flocks. Those still in production were suddenly producing less eggs than before yet maintaining staff, or running houses that were half full - less income, same expenses. The cost of eggs shot up as the demand increased.
Secondly, point of lay hens became scarce. The demand caused the price of hens to increase. Producers of eggs destined to hatch into laying hens had less eggs to hatch, so produced less chicks but running costs remained the same. Producers of young laying hens were not receiving their usual intakes of chicks (because less eggs were available for hatching), meaning they too were running operations on less income - suddenly rearing houses were not full so the numbers of hens going out was reduced, but running costs remained the same. In some cases, these producers put the additional expenses onto the farmers receiving hens for egg production. This cost was then pushed onto retailers and consumers. In some cases, at each level, producers and farmers took a knock, while consumers took a knock by having to pay more for eggs. All round, the pockets took a hit.
To combat the shortages, fertilised eggs were imported. At an exceptional price.
This means that more hens are in the system now, hatched and being reared into laying hens. This has helped to stabilise the production and keep a consistent supply of eggs. The same actions for the import of broiler (meat birds) fertilised eggs has meant that there was little impact on the meat availability.
However, the purchase of chicks for meat production and egg laying have gone up significantly. Once local producers are back in action, they have serious costs to recover.
Behind the scenes, access to quality laying hens remains a challenge which will continue to impact the availability of eggs.
For us as a small farm, what has this meant?
Firstly, during the shortage…
In order to book a volume of laying hens, farmers have to commit several months in advance - eggs need to be ordered and chicks set four months in advance. Producers often require a full year’s planning for intakes of hens. We were fortunate enough to have an intake of hens booked, and the producer of these birds remained clear of Avian Flu. However, the cost of these birds shot up by 45%. We did not have the budget to absorb this additional cost so we had to settle for buying fewer birds. Instead of 400 birds for this intake, we could only get 250. This meant we are producing less eggs, but paid the same amount of money as a flock of 400 birds. We had committed ourselves to retailers based on our projected production of eggs so this meant a lot of frustration all round. It also means the cost of each egg is so much more. We could not risk increasing our egg price to cover these costs and lose customers. It has been a very tight balance to navigate.
At the start of the egg shortage, we were producing a given number of eggs per day. Suddenly when demand increased, customers and retailers expected us to double and sometimes even triple their orders! We had several conversations with literally irate retailers as to why we could not suddenly send another 1000 eggs per week. The hens on the farm continued to lay their 6 eggs every week without a care in the world. No matter how much we willed them to, they simply did not lay 3 eggs a day! To supply an extra 1000 eggs per week translates to nearly 185 more hens each laying an egg a day that week! Eggs as a highly perishable item, can’t be stored for long. We aim to sell out every week, committing to market the right number of eggs every week so we are not left with eggs sitting in the pack station. This means that there is not much slack in the system or a back up of eggs to supply.
As we write this, the impact of the shortages are still being felt. Because we have fewer birds than anticipated, like most farmers, we are pushing our birds to lay for longer. Hen producers are encouraging farmers to keep their birds going longer than usual to keep the supply of eggs on shelves. This means we are giving LOTS of TLC, extra supplements to boost their health, and keep the birds in top condition. However, age does have an impact on egg quality - the shells become more brittle and the eggs become runnier. On the flip side, the eggs are ginormous! Most of the eggs laid by our oldest birds are beyond jumbo size. But we are only getting about 40-50% lay rate from these older birds. This makes the eggs very costly to produce because we are still feeding the hens the same, the work is still the same but he return is less.
Because laying hens are bred for optimum production, they work extremely hard, for a short amount of time. They can keep laying for longer but it becomes less and less sustainable. For example, we kept 20 birds from one of our flocks that retired last year. We get 3-4 eggs per day from 20 hens. So while these birds are part of our goat stable sanitation programme as their primary purpose, if they were to be kept in commission for laying eggs, the cost of those eggs would be through the roof. So our birds work hard during their peak years and live the best life possible. We either process them for meat, or sell them on to backyard producers who only want a handful of eggs.
It is a tough balance to ensure we can keep supplying eggs. The eggs may be runnier, and the shells more brittle but nutritionally, the egg still has the same value. Our price doesn’t change because the eggs are nearly 50% bigger.
Beyond that, it is extremely difficult to source new laying hens. There have been numerous ‘fly by night’ guys popping up, or poor quality birds on the market. Not only is sourcing birds difficult, but very, very expensive. This affects the cost of the eggs being produced, and the cost of eggs being sold. So we have a ceiling as to how many eggs we can currently produce despite market demands. The concern being, when there is more hen availability, purchasing more hens will drive up egg cost and would that cost us customers?
So for now we limp along, apologising profusely every week when orders cannot be fulfilled, hoping not to lose customers through this. We wait to see when hens will be available again, and at what cost. And hope for the best!