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Eggs US – Price – Chart

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Re: Eggs US – Price – Chart

#461

Post by bombcar »

latentcall wrote: post #374

I highly highly recommend keeping chickens for those with the ability, space, and time to care for them. You don’t need acres. I was able to do it on a 1/4 acre in my city and as long as you follow the local ordinance you’ll be fine. Getting a half dozen eggs a day at this moment. Happy to answer questions if anybody has any. Been keeping chickens in town for 3 years.

I'll just add that the coop is for you to look at. The chickens don't need anything fancy, so you can build one out of nearly anything.

Neighbors might complain if it looks really weird or run-down.

Re: Eggs US – Price – Chart

#462

Post by dan-robertson »

autoexec wrote: post #397
idlewords wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bird flu is what's going on.

It's just greed. A couple years ago Cal-Maine Foods, whose birds were never infected at all, raised their prices anyway and their profits went up 718% https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/29/business/egg-profits-cal-main...

Why is it that egg producer greed/generosity matches well with the times when there is an egg supply shortage/surfeit?

Re: Eggs US – Price – Chart

#463

Post by mothax »

mplanchard wrote: post #258
oceanplexian wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually the inconvenient truth is that it's not. Free range birds are able to interact and spread the disease more easily than the caged birds which can be quarantined. At least in my location all the cage free inventory is totally wiped out.

That’s not at all the case here (VT). The local sellers are essentially all pasture-raised, free-range, etc., and their eggs are the only ones in stock. I have read some posts from them talking about the various ways they keep segments of the flocks separated, and they are being quite careful about any outside access. Edit: I guess also the birds are indoors much more anyway, given the winter. It's 11 F here today, s…

My half-dozen chickens in my yard in VT are hardy and out and about! I get about four eggs a day, and endless entertainment from the small herd of therapods.

Re: Eggs US – Price – Chart

#464

Post by darth_avocado »

boplicity wrote: post #284
oceanplexian wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually the inconvenient truth is that it's not. Free range birds are able to interact and spread the disease more easily than the caged birds which can be quarantined. At least in my location all the cage free inventory is totally wiped out.

Cage free does not mean they're out in a field. It means all of the birds are in one crowded space. Eggs that come from birds that genuinely roam the pasture are exceedingly rare.

There’s cage free, then there’s pasture raised and then there’s regenerative farming. All of them don’t include chickens roaming around as freely as you think they do. Cage free especially just means they’re stuffed like sardines in giant barn, but are not in cages. Pasture raised often means they’re still in netted coops that move around on a pasture. I think regenerative farming comes closest to allowing chickens to roam around, but it’s still not freely.

Re: Eggs US – Price – Chart

#465

Post by johnnyanmac »

pton_xd wrote: post #428
davidw wrote: post #171

I've been fiddling around with the Albertsons API for fun. It's kind of neat to see a whole year's worth of purchases in nicely formatted JSON. I have half an idea to create something like a personal inflation tracker, but I'm still thinking about it. It's entirely possible that these goons will start fiddling with official statistics around things like unemployment and inflation to tell us that inflation is not actu…

> It's entirely possible that these goons will start fiddling with official statistics around things like unemployment and inflation to tell us that inflation is not actually happening any more and that therefore we must cut interest rates, or some such. Like when the BLS overstated payrolls by 818k!! in March of last year, the largest negative revision in 15 years? And then the Fed did an emergency 50bps rate cut in…

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/04/job-openings-decline-sharply...

https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.nr0.htm

Still happening. We sure have been suddenly wild unaccirate with the job market while the Feds need to keep saying "everything is fine but...".

Re: Eggs US – Price – Chart

#466

Post by mikeyouse »

pests wrote: post #430
simple10 wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFAIK, free-range and cage free are not heavily regulated terms like organic, which is a registered and trademark enforced term. At best they just mean the hens have a bit more room to move around. Neither of them actually mean there is no cage. It's why we see "pasture raised" as the more premium marketing term. It still doesn't mean much without looking into the specific farm.

Michigan just switched to cafe-free only at the start of a year due to a new law going into effect. Prices were increased around the holidays as retailers preemptively switched their stock. Might not be well defined but I’m sure it’s defined enough to be law.

Right - here's the summary of the changes: https://www.michigan.gov/mdard/-/media/Project/Websites/mdar...

And the specific section of the law defining 'cage free' for Michigan:

https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Laws/MCL?objectName=MCL-287-7...

There may be some flexibility in consumers' understanding of the terms, but of course the legislature has actual rules.

Re: Eggs US – Price – Chart

#467

Post by mplanchard »

mothax wrote: post #463
mplanchard wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not at all the case here (VT). The local sellers are essentially all pasture-raised, free-range, etc., and their eggs are the only ones in stock. I have read some posts from them talking about the various ways they keep segments of the flocks separated, and they are being quite careful about any outside access. Edit: I guess also the birds are indoors much more anyway, given the winter. It's 11 F here today, s…

My half-dozen chickens in my yard in VT are hardy and out and about! I get about four eggs a day, and endless entertainment from the small herd of therapods.

I love to hear it! I didn't realize they were so cold tolerant, but I'm glad they can still enjoy the outdoors even when the winters are as cold as this one.

I'd love to get some chickens one of these days. Four eggs a day would be enough for us to regularly give away dozens while supplying all of our own egg needs.

Re: Eggs US – Price – Chart

#468

Post by jghn »

cj wrote: post #365
jghn wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You put your finger on what I think is the real issue: whether or not access to cheap food is a net benefit or not. I also won't claim to have the perfect answer but do feel we've gone at least a bit too far in one direction.

I think we've only "gone too far" in the sense that cheap food also means unhealthy food, generally. Access to cheap food would be wonderful if it were healthy! Unfortunately the cheapest food is typically the worst food for your health.

Yes, and I think it goes beyond "healthy", depending on one's definition.

Part of it is also that "cheap" tends to lead to monocultures and other patterns that are more easily disrupted.

An example being the Cavendish banana, which for most of the western world is the only thing they know of when the word "banana" is mentioned. And now the banana supply of a large part of the world is in danger of going extinct [1]

And there's also ecological health. "Cheap" tends to promote mass production in certain areas and shipping everywhere. "Cheap" tends to promote less sustainable farming practices. That sort of thing.

[1] https://www.foodandwine.com/banana-extinction-8715118

Re: Eggs US – Price – Chart

#469

Post by relaxing »

pton_xd wrote: post #428
davidw wrote: post #171

I've been fiddling around with the Albertsons API for fun. It's kind of neat to see a whole year's worth of purchases in nicely formatted JSON. I have half an idea to create something like a personal inflation tracker, but I'm still thinking about it. It's entirely possible that these goons will start fiddling with official statistics around things like unemployment and inflation to tell us that inflation is not actu…

> It's entirely possible that these goons will start fiddling with official statistics around things like unemployment and inflation to tell us that inflation is not actually happening any more and that therefore we must cut interest rates, or some such. Like when the BLS overstated payrolls by 818k!! in March of last year, the largest negative revision in 15 years? And then the Fed did an emergency 50bps rate cut in…

> Like when the BLS overstated payrolls by 818k!!

So one Meta SRE? Is this supposed to be a lot?

Re: Eggs US – Price – Chart

#470

Post by Loughla »

bluGill wrote: post #338
Zanfa wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only thing caged birds do is interact with other birds. There’s a reason antibiotics are so widely used. It’s like a massive Petri dish.

Antibiotics are not widely used. There are many regulations, to use them at all you need a vet to sign off. You also have to pay for them. Then the animal has to be off of them for weeks before you can sell it. In any case where are talking about a virus which an antibiotic won't touch at all. Modern large farms have very strict bio controls. Things like: You shower before entering the barn (there is a shower in the…

People really do underestimate the biological controls in large operations. I'm absolutely not a supporter of that style of farm, but

They're essentially clean rooms with animals living in them. It's kind of amazing. We only see the ones that are bad.

But like I said. No animal deserves to be crated all day every day for its life.

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