With eggs in short supply and high demand, including locally, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced its latest plan to help lower the price: a $1 billion dollar plan to lower egg prices and provide what the USDA is calling a “Five-Pronged Approach to Address Avian Flu.”
The USDA said on Feb. 26 that this will be done by working with partners in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to examine strategies to safely expand supply in the commercial market for eggs, minimize burdens on individual farmers and consumers, and educate consumers and Congress on the need to fix geographical price differences for eggs.
The CDC announced in a recent update that the avian influenza A(H5) variant of the bird flu is spreading worldwide in wild birds and causing sporadic outbreaks in U.S. poultry and dairy cows.
“I do agree that some of the issues that are with the supply are because they’re not careful about the way they’re producing and taking care of the animals,” St. Cloud local Rebekah Feid Murtinger said. “I don’t know what can be done about that but I do think that is part of the problem.”
“I’ve been making special trips to buy the 60 count (cartons) of eggs, and it was $12,” Murtinger said. “Sometimes it was cheaper, like dirt cheap at $7 for that amount of eggs.”
While the USDA continues to work on lowering prices and ensuring chicken health, St. Cloud residents and workers are looking to alternative ways get to their eggs.
Realtor Cindy Park Martinez said she is working on selling a property in St. Cloud and decided to sell it as the ideal place to raise chickens.
“As a Realtor, I see growing interest from buyers seeking homes with space for sustainable living,” Martinez said. “The Backyard Egg Program encourages residents to connect with nature and promote self-sufficiency. With ongoing development and loss of natural habitat, programs like this help preserve Saint Cloud’s small-town charm while offering families the chance to embrace a more sustainable lifestyle.”
Martinez said the property is on the outskirts of St. Cloud and the buyers wanted to know the regulations of chicken keeping for property owners in that area.
“I want to make sure I’m doing this accurately so that people who want to have chickens on their land can actually have it done there,” Martinez said.
If residents wish to obtain a chicken-keeping permit, they will need to participate in a “Chicken Keeping” class offered through the Osceola County UF/IFAS Extension Services, and the price for the class is $7.
Extensive Service agent Jessica Sullivan said she has been teaching the Backyard Chicken Keeping classes for the past six years.
“Classes are offered inperson a few times a year and are open to anyone who wants to learn about keeping chickens,” said Sullivan. “It’s a two-hour class that covers the basics of how to keep healthy chickens, including selecting chicken breeds, chicken housing, raising chicks, and chicken nutrition.”
Sullivan said the class meets the education requirement flock and we teach people how to properly care for chickens to keep them happy, prevent animal and human diseases and ensure safe egg production.”
Sullivan said the popularity of backyard chickens continues to grow as people seek ways to increase their food security and adopt healthier lifestyles with homegrown foods and more into providing the best nutrition for them. If you’re not providing the best nutrition and the best stress-free environment for them, they don’t produce like you want them to.”
Tyner said factors that help chickens to lay eggs are plenty of daylight, needing a stress-free environment, a high-quality diet, being treated for pests and parasites on a regular basis, and protecting them from predatory threats.
“All of this does add up to those people who are wanting to just, ‘Oh, let’s buy our own chickens and not worry about the store’ because you definitely need to educate yourself on chickens,” Tyner said. She said another factor to keep in mind is that chickens can be very destructive and might not get along with one another.
“They will tear up your landscaping, they will make a mess of any yard, and they’ll eat the grass until it’s completely gone so you won’t have nothing but sand (left),” Tyner said. “So, you really have to educate yourself on the number of chickens you have per square footage.”
Tyner said she believes coming together as a community will help globally.
“I feel like our food system is completely broken and we need to be willing to do what we can as a community to come together and offer help,” she said. “Keep our faith that everything’s going to be okay during this hard time as a community because it is definitely a broken food system right now.”
