The great California egg crisis

California supermarkets have been hit with a double whammy of egg-limiting factors this year, forcing prices to surge and supplies to falter. One factor is the highly pathogenic avian flu, which has resulted in a loss of nearly 60 million laying hens, as of Jan. 18. That is roughly 17% of the nation’s total commercial laying hen population in 2020, the last year that the United Egg Producers published data.

This loss is substantial enough to disrupt the industry, said Richard Blatchford, a poultry specialist at the UC Davis Department of Animal Science. In California, the supply shock is even more acute due to a new law, implemented Jan. 1, requiring all eggs sold to be from cage-free producers.

“California is an egg deficit state, which means we have always imported the majority of eggs into the state,” said Blatchford. The state is ranked 10th in egg production nationwide, but with a population of 40 million, that’s still not enough to keep our baskets full.

“There’s a much smaller pool of cage-free-produced eggs nationally that we can get,” Blatchford added.

At the end of 2020, only 28% of commercial laying hens were classified as cage-free, according to United Egg Producers data. Other states, such as Colorado and Massachusetts, have also adopted the cage-free requirement, creating increased competition for an already strained supply. The Egg Market Overview estimates that the cage-free flock is short of meeting commitments by 133.4 million hens.

backyard hens and safety

The avian flu and high egg costs may prompt more people to consider investing in their own coops, said Jamie Chan, director of programs and partnerships at the Gardens of Golden Gate Park and a certified master gardener.

“The pandemic alone teaches you that viruses and natural climate disasters, all these things are regular parts of our lives. So I really, truthfully believe that urban homesteading of any kind on any scale — or shared homesteading in public spaces — is a solution for a lot of those issues,” said Chan.

The Center for Disease Control has issued biosecurity guidelines and resources to protect people living near chickens. In short, the advice is to keep sanitation stringent and remain watchful of your birds’ health.

“It’s just about being clean, not spreading pathogens from one chicken population to the next,” Chan said. “That’s the practice you learn when you become a chicken keeper.”

The gold standard would be to keep your chickens inside, said Blanchford, and away from wild birds that could potentially spread disease.

“But for a lot of backyard flock owners, that’s just not realistic,” he said. “So what I normally tell people is to try to have an understanding of the risk to your birds, and what kind of risk you’re willing to take as an individual.”

To assess those risks, stay watchful of outbreaks in your area, he suggests. The USDA and CDC regularly update maps with information about infected flocks.

California has had 781,436 birds affected by the current bird flu outbreak, across 15 commercial flocks and 16 backyard flocks, according to USDA data from Jan. 19. No cases have been reported in San Francisco.

If you’re wondering if it’s safe to bring hens home now, said Blanchford, “Make sure they’re coming from a reputable hatchery. And then cross check on the (USDA) map of what’s happening in that area.”

Who can have chickens To have backyard hens, one needs a backyard, which is fairly rare real estate in San Francisco.

“There aren’t a lot of community gardens that I know of that will have communal shared chickens right now,” said Chan, who co-leads Sisterhood Gardens, a community garden in Ocean View.

“It depends on who owns the land,” she said. “ But generally, a lot of public land is owned by Public Works, or Rec and Park and I know that their policies on livestock are somewhat limited.”

Because the Sisterhood Gardens project is on land owned by the Department of Public Works, chickens are not allowed. Of the city’s 42 community gardens, only a couple host chicken coops.

“Your private backyard might be the best option at this point, or shared public space that might be privately held in some way that you can negotiate,” said Chan.

But even then, there are legal limits. According to the San Francisco Public Health Code, a permit is required for residents with more than four (in any combination) “dogs of age 6 months or older ... hares, rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, mice, gerbils, chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, doves, pigeons, game birds of any species, or cats.”

Chan noted that raising chickens for eggs can come with plenty of benefits and requires minimal upkeep once a coop is set up. But don’t expect a cash cow out of your chickens.

“You’re probably not going to get that output if you do the return on (egg) investment from raising chickens,” she said. “But you are getting healthier eggs” and “the chicken producing it tends to be having a better life.”