Eggs Up. Chickens Down. Let's Talk Statistics.

You’ve gone to the grocery story. You’ve seen the headlines. You may even be sourcing the product. Egg prices are up. Chicken number are down, but what is the statistical data?

The USDA released its annual Chicken and Eggs Summary last week, which presents inventories as of December 1, 2024. Bernt Nelson, an economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation…

“According to this report, layers in 2024 were estimated at an average of 375 million. Now this is down about two percent from last year. Our egg production from layers total 109 billion eggs, down one percent. Lastly, let's talk about the overall chicken inventory. Now this came in at 514 million birds, down about two percent from last year.”

Those are relatively small percentages. So let’s talk about the hike in egg prices…

“Eggs have come up dramatically over the last couple of months.”

Here’s the deal. Even though just released, the report is already dated.

“The U.S. lost about 43 million birds in January and February, after this report. Now this is about 25 percent or a quarter of all the birds affected since the outbreak began 2022, and this is not yet captured in this report.”

Again that is Bernt Nelson with the American Farm Bureau and a story that we will absolutely continue to cover right here on the Ag Information Network.