Egg prices are skyrocketing — why isn't the cost of chicken rising, too?
(NEXSTAR) — Eggs have been a hot and expensive commodity lately. Multiple major retailers have enacted an egg limit while Waffle House recently added a surcharge to every egg ordered.
You likely won't, however, find a limit on how many packages of chicken breasts you can purchase at your local grocery store, or a surcharge on the Waffle House chicken dinner.
Why? It's all about the type of chicken.
The chickens that produce eggs are not the same chickens that become wings, tenders, breasts, and drumsticks. The latter are known as broilers and are raised solely for meat production.
It's egg-laying chickens that have been more widely impacted by the avian flu. Historically, the broiler population isn't hit as hard, Bernt Nelson, an economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation, explained to Nexstar. That is changing as of late, with some broiler flocks in the Pacific Northwest being impacted by the bird flu.
The meat side of the chicken industry has another plus over the egg side: the products can be kept in frozen storage. The nation's frozen chicken storage is down about 8% year-over-year, according to Nelson, but not to a level that threatens the poultry market.
'I think that goes to show that, even when we're having these [bird flu] outbreaks start to have an impact on our broiler flocks, that has an extra layer of resiliency,' he said.
The prices of some chicken-related offerings have climbed. If you bought wings for your Super Bowl LIX party, you likely paid around $1.91 per pound, up from the roughly $1.76 per pound you paid last year. The frozen stock has, however, helped to cushion the blow, Nelson explained.
The egg market can't be protected in the same way, and forecasting from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that it could continue to feel the impacts of the bird flu through the year.
The latest Consumer Price Index from the Labor Department shows egg prices are up 53 percent over last January. California consumers may see even higher price tags in part because of the state's cage free laws (a similar law took effect in Colorado at the start of the new year). Cage free operations can lead to fewer birds and producers, Nelson said, which can make the operations more vulnerable to a bird flu outbreak.
Over the same time, fresh whole chicken is up just 0.5 percent while fresh and frozen chicken parts are up 0.8 percent.
It's unclear when egg prices could come back down. Experts have previously warned that prices could rise another 20 percent in 2025, depending on how long the bird flu hangs around.
The latest monthly consumer price index showed that the average price of a dozen Grade A eggs in U.S. cities reached $4.95 in January, eclipsing the previous record of $4.82 set two years earlier and more than double the low of $2.04 that was recorded in August 2023.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Yahoo
TowBoatUS expands to Rocky Point area of Lake of the Woods
Jun. 14—ROOSEVELT, Minn. — Boaters on the U.S. side of Lake of the Woods now have one more option if they have boat trouble on the big lake. TowBoat US 24/7 just added its second on-the-water towing and assistance service on Lake of the Woods, this one in the Rocky Point area on the west side of the lake. Opened by Capt. Doug and Melanie Nelson of Baudette, Minnesota, TowBoatUS Rocky Point provides professional on-the-water towing, soft ungrounding, battery jump and fuel drop-off services. The new service at Rocky Point is part of a network of more than 300 TowBoatUS ports nationwide. The Nelsons opened their first Lake of the Woods port, TowBoatUS Lake of the Woods, two years ago in Baudette. In a news release, Doug Nelson said it's all about going where their services are needed, providing faster response times. "We have a lot of possibilities," Nelson said. "Being able to service the west side of the lake efficiently from our new west-side port means shorter response times to requests for assistance. We hope to grow BoatUS membership over here by providing great service." TowBoatUS Rocky Point has a 21-foot red response vessel fully rigged for towing and salvage homeported at Arnesen's Rocky Point Resort north of Roosevelt. All of the company's captains are U.S. Coast Guard-licensed. The Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS) offers on-water unlimited towing memberships for freshwater boaters and anglers — much like an auto club for recreational boat owners — for just $109 per year. Membership comes with more than 25 BoatUS benefits , including discounts at local fuel docks and transient slips at marinas. Also included are a subscription to BoatUS Magazine, free DSC-VHF radio registration and more. Separate from BoatUS on-water towing, the company also offers boat salvage services. In an interview with the Herald, Nelson said the rate for an on-the-water service call is $250 an hour for boaters who don't have the $109 BoatUS towing membership. "If you're up by Garden Island, that's going to be an expensive tow," Nelson said. "If you're at Long Point and we come out of Arnesens, it's not going to be too bad. It does vary widely on the expense, but it can get up to $1,000 to $1,200, depending on the length of the tow. So, the $109 membership makes a ton of sense. "We want to be able to take care of people, and then at the end of the tow, I would rather just wave and wish them a great day and not have to take their money because they're a member." The Baudette location, now in its third season, is at the Lake of the Woods Campground marina on the Rainy River, Nelson says. Calls vary, he says, all the way from someone miscalculating and running out of gas coming back from the north end of the lake, to dead batteries, engine trouble or grounding on sandbars near Lighthouse Gap, Morris Point or Buffalo Point. For BoatUS members who run out of gas, the only fee they have to pay is the cost of the fuel, Nelson says. "We'll deliver fuel as a member," he said. "We'll do that for free." Based on tows to date, the company is on pace to respond to about 60 calls this summer on Lake of the Woods, Nelson said. "Obviously, our weekends are the busiest," he said. "We'll do several tows in a day on a nice weekend. ... And it keeps growing every year as more people know about us and memberships increase." The company also has worked with the Lake of the Woods County Sheriff's Department to assist with boaters who need help, he said. "We're not search and rescue — that is not our job," Nelson said "Because we're here on the lake, we can get out to a swamped boat a whole lot faster than they can." Nelson and his wife, who also manage the marina at Lake of the Woods Campground and offer boat rentals, own their rescue boats but have a licensing agreement with TowBoatUS, which in turn provides branding, marketing and dispatching support, he said. "They are the largest marine assist company in the United States, but we are locally owned," Nelson said. "We own the boats and we provide the captains." To request on-the-water assistance, boaters can call the BoatUS toll-free 24/7 Dispatch Center at (800) 391-4869, call TowBoatUS Rocky Point or TowBoatUS Lake of the Woods directly at (218) 434-0087, or hail on VHF radio Channel 16. The company also is certified through ACAPT, the Accredited for Commercial Assistance and Professional Towing organization, Nelson said. "I think the biggest thing that we provide is the peace of mind that when you leave the dock, there's someone there, 24 hours a day, seven days a week," he said. "We've got your back if anything goes wrong."
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Yahoo
ThinkCareBelieve: Week 21 of America's Progress under President Trump
Washington D.C., June 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- You can find the article here: has published an article on the 21st week of America under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump. America is making strong progress toward prosperity and ThankCareBelieve's article shows this weeks numbers and indicators supporting that. Prices are going down. Tariffs are working. Inflation is gone. The economy is strong and once the One Big Beautiful Bill is passed, the economy will be booming. The article has a report by Maria Bartiromo that the CPI (Consumer Price Index) is out and the numbers are better than expected, surprising everyone. The trade deal with China is now complete, allowing China's markets to open up for American products which will help American business soar. The article shows this week's Los Angeles riots have sparked several investigations where they actually were paid anarchy by those wanting to disrupt American 21st week ends on Flag Day, the 25th Anniversary of the U.S. Army and the Birthday of President Donald J. Trump. The article shows how strong America has become with record number of enlistments and re-enlistments, President Trump attended an Invest in America Event and the President signing an end to costly and impractial EV Mandates. The Halt Fentanyl Act has been passed and is ready to be signed. The article also covers Secretary Kennedy's huge steps to restore public trust by appointing a new board to the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP), including the appointment of Dr. Robert Malone, M.D. is an outlook. ThinkCareBelieve's mission for Peace advocacy facilitates positive outcomes and expanded possibilities. To achieve Peace, we will find the commonalities between diverse groups and bring the focus on common needs, working together toward shared goals. Activism is an important aspect of ThinkCareBelieve, because public participation and awareness to issues needing exposure to light leads to justice. Improved transparency in government can lead to changes in policy and procedure resulting in more fluid communication between the public and the government that serves them. America needs hope right now, and Americans need to be more involved in their government. ### CONTACT: CONTACT: Joanne COMPANY: ThinkCareBelieve EMAIL: joanne@ WEB: in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Welcome to the zoo. That'll be $47 today — ask again tomorrow.
How much will it cost to visit a museum, zoo or aquarium this summer? The answer, increasingly, is: It depends. John Linehan can rattle off almost two dozen factors that Zoo New England's dynamic pricing contractor, Digonex, uses to recommend what to charge guests. 'It's complicated,' said Linehan, president and CEO of the operator of two zoos in eastern Massachusetts. Before adopting dynamic pricing, the organization was changing prices seasonally and increasing entry rates little by little. 'As we watched that pattern, we were afraid some families were going to get priced out,' he said of the earlier approach. 'I'm a father of four and I know what it is like.' Now, Zoo New England's system provides cheaper rates for tickets purchased far in advance. That, coupled with the zoo's participation in the Mass Cultural Council's discounted admissions program for low-income and working families, 'puts some control back in the consumer's hands,' Linehan said. The zoo is one of many attractions embracing pricing systems that were earlier pioneered by airlines, ride-hailing apps and theme parks. While these practices allow operators to lower prices when demand is soft, they also enable the reverse, threatening to squeeze consumers who are increasingly trimming their summer travel budgets. Before the pandemic, less than 1% of attractions surveyed by Arival, a tourism market research and events firm, used variable or dynamic pricing. Today, 17% use variable pricing, in which entry fees are adjusted based on predictable factors such as the day of the week or the season, Arival said. And 6% use dynamic pricing, in which historical and real-time data on weather, staffing, demand patterns and more influence rates. The changes come as barely half of U.S. museums, zoos, science centers and similar institutions have fully recovered to their pre-Covid attendance levels, according to the American Alliance of Museums. That has led many to pursue novel ways of filling budget gaps and offsetting cost increases. 'There's a saying: 'No margin, no mission,'' Linehan said, 'and we charge what we need to make ends meet while delivering on our mission.' Entry costs are climbing even at attractions that aren't using price-setting technology. The broad 'admissions' category in the federal government's Consumer Price Index, which includes museum fees alongside sports and concert tickets, climbed 3.9% in May from the year before, well above the annual 2.4% inflation rate. In 2024, the nonprofit Monterey Bay Aquarium raised adult ticket prices from $59.95 to $65 and recently upped its individual membership rate, which includes year-round admission, from $95 to $125. 'Gate admission from ticket sales funds the core operation of the aquarium,' a spokesperson said. While the Denver Art Museum has no plans to test dynamic pricing, it raised admissions fees last fall, three years after a $175 million renovation and a survey of ticket prices elsewhere, a spokesperson said. Entry costs went from $18 to $22 for Colorado residents and from $22 to $27 for out-of-state visitors. Prices rise on weekends and during busy times, to $25 and $30 for in- and out-of-state visitors, respectively. Guests under age 19 always get in free thanks to a sponsored program. Like many attractions, the art museum posts these prices on its website. But many attractions' publicly listed ticket prices are liable to fluctuate. The Seattle Aquarium — which raised its price ranges last summer by about $10 ahead of the opening of a new ocean pavilion — also uses Digonex's algorithmic recommendations. During the week of June 8, for example, the aquarium's online visit planner, which displays the relative ticket availability for each day, offered out-of-state adult admissions as low as $37.95 for dates later in the month and as much as $46.95 for walk-in tickets that week. In addition to booking in advance, there are more than half a dozen other discounts available to certain guests, including seniors and tribal and military members, a spokesperson noted. At many attractions, however, admission fees aren't even provided until a guest enters the specific day and time they want to visit — making it difficult to know that lower prices may be available at another time. 'Some attractions are doing a daily analysis of their bookings over the next several days or weeks and making adjustments' to prices continuously, said Arival CEO Douglas Quinby. Prices might rise quietly on a day when slots are filling up and dip when tickets don't seem to be moving, he said. Digonex, which says it provides automated dynamic pricing services to more than 70 attractions worldwide, offers recommendations as frequently as daily. It's up to clients to decide how and whether to implement them, a spokesperson said. Each algorithm is tailored to organizations' goals and can account for everything from weather to capacity constraints and even Google Analytics search patterns. Data-driven pricing can be 'a financial win for both the public and the museum,' said Elizabeth Merritt, vice president of strategic foresight at the American Alliance of Museums. It can reduce overcrowding, she said, while steering budget-minded guests toward dates that are both cheaper and less busy. But steeper prices during peak periods and for short-notice visits could rankle guests — who may see anything less than a top-notch experience as a rip-off, said Stephen Pratt, a professor at the University of Central Florida's Rosen College of Hospitality Management who studies tourism. 'Because of the higher prices, you want an experience that's really great,' he said, transforming a low-key day at the zoo into a big-ticket, high-stakes outing. 'You've invested this money into family time, into creating memories, and you don't want any service mishaps.' That could raise the risk of blowback at many attractions, especially those grappling with Trump administration cuts this summer. Some historic sites and national parks have already warned that their operations are under pressure. Consumers should expect more price complexity to come. Arival said 16% of attractions ranked implementing dynamic pricing as a top priority for 2025-26. Among large attractions serving at least half a million guests annually, 37% are prioritizing dynamic pricing, up from the 12% that use it currently. For visitors, that could mean hunting harder for cheaper tickets. While many museums are free year-round, others provide lower rates for off-season visits and those booked in advance. It's also common to reduce or waive fees on certain days or hours, and many kids and seniors can often get discounted entry. Here are a few other ways to keep admissions costs low: 'It may take a bit of research,' said Quinby, 'but it's still possible to find a good deal.' This article was originally published on
