General Discussion

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/07/nx-s1-5270835/super-bowl-egg-prices-chicken-wings

The reason chicken and egg prices have not moved in tandem has to do with the very different toll that avian flu has taken on birds that produce eggs — and those raised for their meat.

Nationwide, egg farmers lost more than 38 million birds to the flu last year — nearly 14 million in December alone. That's put a crack in the nation's egg supply, which shows no sign of easing. When a flock of egg-laying hens is wiped out, it takes six months to a year to recover.

"Egg farmers are in the fight of their lives to keep this disease at bay, to keep our hens safe and to keep eggs coming," says Sam Krouse, a farmer who oversees a flock of 14 million laying hens in Indiana, Illinois, Texas and Georgia. "We know it's frustrating for consumers who want to go and buy eggs at the prices they've been used to."

But chicken wings are a different matter
Chickens raised for meat — known as "broilers" — live on different farms than those that produce eggs. And while broilers are not immune from avian flu, they haven't been hit nearly as hard as their egg-laying cousins.

"They're younger typically, and older birds are more susceptible to the virus," says Tom Super of the National Chicken Council. "And broiler chickens are also not on the farm as long — only about seven weeks."