Colorado egg hatcheries & sellers grapple with demand, as prices are expected to soar in 2025
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - Amidst high prices for eggs nationwide, hatcheries, retailers, and backyard farmers are reporting a high demand for their hens or baby chicks, as people look to have their own eggs produced at home.
An ABC News report this week stated that egg prices are predicted to increase by 41.1% in 2025, citing data from a recent Department of Agriculture (USDA) report. In January, the federal agency had predicted a 20% increase, and now that figure is growing.
The report adds that egg prices in January were 53% higher than the year before.
It's the ongoing strain from the new variation of the avian flu for the last few months that has left the chicken and egg supply chain on shaky ground. Now, retailers and hatcheries say they're unable to keep up with demand.
In Falcon, the Big R tells KRDO13 that they've run out of their last two shipments of baby chicks, within just a day or so of putting them out on the floor.
Backyard farmers like Betzy Vantilborg, who lives in Falcon herself, is just one of many homeowners in El Paso County who says that her flock of chickens, hens, and roosters have been put in the spotlight by the ongoing egg dilemma.
"We've definitely seen an uptick in people in the neighborhood groups locally asking for eggs," said Vantilborg. "People are always asking for 'Does anybody have any pullets?', 'Does anybody have any young hens who are laying'". she added.
She explains however that people should be wary of trying to purchase their own chickens. She says that baby chicks take 4 to 6 months before they can start laying eggs and that they may not be as economical as some people think, to avoid grocery store prices.
"I mean, just the start-up alone. Your coup. You need a run for [the chickens]. You need nesting boxes, food containers. You have to replace food containers because they break, supplemental lighting." said Vantilborg. "So startup isn't as small as you'd think."
Vantilborg also explains that most backyard farmers are facing the same issue during this avian flu, which is that eggs are harder to come by in the winter months, as less daylight means fewer eggs coming from chickens.
"With the days being shorter, we get less sunlight. So I get less eggs. So this year, I didn't put additional lighting in my coup. But if I had, I'd be swimming in eggs like I was this Summer. I'm getting 3 to 4 eggs a day at this point." explained Vantilborg.
Conversely, she says that she has turned to Quail eggs as an alternative. She says although it takes about three quail eggs to match the portion of one chicken egg, quail eggs are more nutrient-rich.
Vantilborg says that she's had more people interested in them, and buying them from her.
"[Quail] lay a lot more eggs throughout the whole year, they take up less space, they waste less," she said about the smaller and quieter birds.
High Valley Hatchery, based out of the San Luis Valley in Sanford, CO, is the largest hatching operation in the State since high elevation makes hatching a difficult business in Colorado.
The sole owner and operator says she's currently hatching a little more than a dozen chicks per week, usually on Saturday or Sunday, and by Monday, they're all sold.
Outside of the winter, and this avian flu outbreak, she says she'd hatch exponentially more. Currently her her flock consists of 300 to 500 birds.
She explains that this strain of the avian flu is highly contagious and can be spread from other fowl, such as geese or other birds, so she hasn't been allowing her chickens outside very much, or letting anyone, or anything inside the coup.
It's a lockdown effort, because, as she explains, if the USDA finds a farm with even one chicken with the flu strain, they get rid of the entire flock, which can mean thousands of birds, if not more, going at once. She says this is what is going to make the recovery from this outbreak take quite a while.
It's why people like Vantilborg are planning on buying more chickens this year.
