Bird flu, soaring costs cause egg prices to skyrocket

Anyone going to buy a dozen eggs these days will have to be ready to pay up because the lingering bird flu outbreak, combined with soaring feed, fuel and labor costs, has led to prices more than doubling over the past year. The price of a dozen eggs hit $3.59 per dozen in November, up from $1.72 a year earlier, according to the latest government data.

Egg prices are up significantly more than other foods — even more than chicken or turkey — because egg farmers were hit harder by the bird flu. Purdue University agricultural economist Jayson Lusk said he believes the bird flu outbreak is the biggest driver in the price increases.

Unlike past years, the virus lingered throughout the summer and made a resurgence last fall when it resumed infecting egg and poultry farms. More than 43 million of the 58 million birds slaughtered over the past year to control the virus have been egg-laying chickens.