Why Are Egg Prices So Ridiculously High In Illinois Right Now?

On Saturday my family did what I'm assuming a lot of families did in Illinois this past weekend, we dyed Easter eggs. This year's annual tradition however had one very big difference. Let me set the scene for you...

In preparation for our marathon egg dying session with family, I had already purchased 2 dozen eggs from Walmart when I decided we needed more. I sent my husband to our local grocery store to get some, and upon returning he says to me; "are eggs really over $6 a dozen now?", and I was like, "H@LL no they aren't, what did you buy?!?!"

I'll admit that when I bought the eggs from Walmart the other day, I paid zero attention to what I was actually paying for them. As soon as my husband came home with his $6 dozen eggs (which he broke 2 of on the drive home), I immediately hopped on my Walmart app to see what price they were listed for hoping I didn't pay $6 a dozen for those too!

Here's the price for a dozen eggs from Walmart today...

$1.98 is a far cry from over $6 a dozen, BUT still, it's about $1 more than I usually pay for them I think. So...what's the deal with the egg prices in Illinois? Are they just trying to take advantage of the fact that Easter is this weekend?

Why Are Egg Prices So High In Illinois Right Now?

As we were dying our eggs this weekend, the conversation quickly turned to why the price for a dozen has risen so dramatically in just a few days, and the answer is; the bird flu. According to today.com;

A highly-infectious avian flu is forcing farmers to kill millions of egg-laying birds across more than half the country, driving the price of eggs up to historic levels

So, the next question is, are we dealing with a legit nationwide egg shortage, similar to the toilet paper and soap shortage of 2020? Not really, according to Today's article, but we will have to suck it up and pay high prices for eggs for the foreseeable future. Meh.

Need one last tidbit of good grocery news? (Yes, I'm being totally sarcastic here), Today's article also says;

The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts groceries could increase another 4% by the end of the year, while the cost of eating out could go up as much as 6.5%.

Better start stockpiling what food supplies you can right now.