Eggs - a Livestock and Meat commodity

[Sdajii]

PLASTIC ?1?!

our cardboard cartons are likely made from imported wood pulp ( making packaging costs higher )

I'm not sure which is better or worse from an environmental point of view, although Western people have been heavily conditioned to view plastic as evil, if it's a straw anyway, but to ignore it in most contexts. Wood and pulp alternatives are also environmentally harmful. The plastic cartons are good in that you can see the eggs which means you don't have to search through the cartons to find one without broken eggs. The plastic bags they're usually sold in are weird though, you need to be careful when taking them home to avoid breaking any.

Those cardboard trays the eggs are sold in layers of 30 on wouldn't work in plastic.

I once saw an egg truck fully loaded with them crash... hehe, trivial crash for the vehicle but quite a mess!

Anyway, point is, eggs are plentiful and cheap here, no issues, farming practices are not clean etc, and bird flu isn't an issue. It's mysteriously an issue restricted to countries primarily populated by White people, in three separate corners of the world.

 

[Craton]

Is that for fancy ones pretending to be better than the cheap generic ones, or the cheap generic ones?

30 eggs here (they tend to do them in 10, the concept of a dozen isn't a thing here) is about AU$5-7 depending on size. Across the river in Laos they're a bit cheaper. But if you want to buy a fridge or toothbrush or microwave oven etc it'll generally be more expensive than in Australia.

A couple of pictures from my shopping trip at the local market yesterday, I took them while this thread was in my mind. Mostly they're sold in plastic bags, although there are supermarkets which sell them in plastic egg cartons.

Sunrise Eggs "Farm Fresh Eggs" 12 X-Large 700g
We buy whatever-the-brand when we can as supplies in our neck of the woods are not always available.

 

[Mr Flibble]

.... and bird flu isn't an issue. It's mysteriously an issue restricted to countries primarily populated by White people, in three separate corners of the world.

I'm gonna hazard a guess that the birds are not free range? If you quarantine the chooks from the outside word, then of course bird 'flu isn't gonna be an issue.

 

[Sdajii]

I'm gonna hazard a guess that the birds are not free range? If you quarantine the chooks from the outside word, then of course bird 'flu isn't gonna be an issue.

It's an interesting facet of the situation and worth looking at. Incidentally, it's a good reason to advocate for battery vs free range farming.

Within a single country, the risk of bird flu being introduced is about 2-6 times higher in a free range farm than a cage farm. I can't find solid data, but I'd bet that the cases where it's most different (closer to 6x higher the risk) would be countries like Australia where the outdoor situation is harder to control and they do a good job of quarantining the indoor cage farms (if you know anyone in Australia who works on such farms you'll know about how strict they are with people keeping pet birds, keeping clean before going into sheds and between sheds etc). While in third world/poor countries like where I'm based, just about everyone has chickens running around at home and even if they don't, like me, they have all the neighbour's chickens running around the streets, coming into their kitchen pecking for scraps, everyone shops at the local wet market where all sorts of animals dead and alive are on sale, running around, etc, and no one understands let alone bothers with quarantine efforts, yet these places remain absolutely 100% immune to supply or price issues. No one here even knows there is an issue, let alone cares let alone tries to do anything to stop it, and there is no problem, yet every single Western/White country in any corner of the globe is dramatically affected. Given the difference in quarantine effort etc, a cage farm in a backwater third world country should be at far higher risk than any farm in Australia, or even if you want to completely ignore different standards between countries, the problem here should be at least half or so as bad as Australia, but here there is no problem at all. According to the official story, bird flu is 90-100% fatal to the birds in a flock, it spreads very effectively in cage farms, and there is no effective quarantine between sheds here, and they're not doing mass culls, so the egg industry here 'should' have completely been wiped out by now.

If there was something of a trend, there was some amount of correlation on a spectrum, sure, I'd think battery vs cage is likely to be a big part of it, perhaps even the main issue, but it's very close to an all or nothing issue, even though cage vs battery methods themselves are on a spectrum, the highest profile case of egg shortages, the USA, primarily uses cage farming (and even their 'free range' eggs are mostly indoors but not in individual cages as opposed to running around outside). But the numbers don't seem to add up.

If your idea is correct, we could simply solve the entire problem immediately by switching back to cage eggs, which incidentally is not a night and day difference in animal welfare, it's an apples and oranges deal. Animal welfare lobby groups have to push for the less economic option because otherwise they can't justify their existence - you are redundant of you push for what industry wants to do anyway. If you've ever been to cage and free range egg farms you'll see that in terms of welfare they both have pros and cons. Given an apples and oranges welfare situation I'd go for the one which is most efficient - better for prices, better for the environment, and if it's safer from a disease perspective that's also better in all respects including animal welfare.

Edited to add a picture of the eggs I bought from the wet market yesterday. I went for chicken rather than the usual duck eggs because I haven't won the tipping contest recently and my budget didn't allow for duck :'( But weirdly, in plastic bags like this is how most people here buy their eggs, or in the cardboard crate things if they buy 30 or more at a time.

In Australia (15+ years ago) I used to think of eggs as a cheap form of food, and 10 years ago in Asia I didn't eat them too often because compared to other foods they were expensive - barely cheaper than Australian prices but other foods were dirt cheap. Some other foods here have about doubled since then (due largely to inflation) and eggs are now a more budget friendly option relative to alternatives.

 

[divs4ever]

I'm gonna hazard a guess that the birds are not free range? If you quarantine the chooks from the outside word, then of course bird 'flu isn't gonna be an issue.

that seems to be the case , small flocks seem to be unaffected ( or the eggs never get to market so are never tested ,) and cooking SHOULD neutralize the virus , ( and the odd 'suddenly dead ' hen ends up as dinner for the farm dog or cat )

 

[Sdajii]

that seems to be the case , small flocks seem to be unaffected ( or the eggs never get to market so are never tested ,) and cooking SHOULD neutralize the virus , ( and the odd 'suddenly dead ' hen ends up as dinner for the farm dog or cat )

This goes against the official narrative. Cooking will 110% kill the virus. Any virus at all including the most heat resistant will be killed before being heated to boiling temperature, and bird flu isn't heat resistant. Most viruses are knocked out by temperatures much above normal body temperature, which is the main reason our bodies heat up (fever) in response to viral infection - many viruses like flu can't cope with it as well as we can, so we can cook the virus out of ourselves without killing ourselves.

It's not normal for flu to be shed into eggs anyway so you could eat them raw without any risk worth being concerned over - you pretty much need direct contact with an infected bird, or something it was in direct contact with immediately before you were, not an egg which had to be collected, packaged, distributed, sat on a shelf, sold, etc.

Even the official story doesn't say bird flu is a relevant risk to humans who buy infected birds or eggs to eat from the supermarket, the issue (according to the narrative) is that the virus will wipe out the flock and before it does, infect other birds, so the entire flock must be exterminated to prevent the spread (to other chicken flocks).

It's quite reminiscent of the Wuhan virus which was going to kill everyone but then only killed the elderly and everyone who caught it just felt somewhere between mildly ill and nasty flu, unless they were on their death bed with cancer, in a car accident or 94 years old, in which case the covid tragically took their lives and is solely responsible for preventing them going on to live forever in prosperity.

It's almost like the dangers of viruses are massively hyped up and if you ignore the propaganda you don't have a problem, and the same people spreading the propaganda make massive amounts of money if people believe it, both directly from the sale of vaccines, and indirectly from any health issues caused by them. It's almost like the medical industry makes more money the more unhealthy people are, and like any system it has a tendency to do what benefits itself...

But as for the bird flu, there is zero doubt that egg production has not been impacted in countries making no effort to deal with it, nowhere has anyone recorded a case of a human catching bird flu from an egg, and there are proposals for mass vaccination of domestic chickens which would make incredible money for pharmaceutical companies.

There are some details of the picture which are unclear, but you don't need to bother joining any dots to see the big picture at this point, just wake up, open your eyes and take a look.

 

[divs4ever]

This goes against the official narrative. Cooking will 110% kill the virus. Any virus at all including the most heat resistant will be killed before being heated to boiling temperature, and bird flu isn't heat resistant. Most viruses are knocked out by temperatures much above normal body temperature, which is the main reason our bodies heat up (fever) in response to viral infection - many viruses like flu can't cope with it as well as we can, so we can cook the virus out of ourselves without killing ourselves.

It's not normal for flu to be shed into eggs anyway so you could eat them raw without any risk worth being concerned over - you pretty much need direct contact with an infected bird, or something it was in direct contact with immediately before you were, not an egg which had to be collected, packaged, distributed, sat on a shelf, sold, etc.

Even the official story doesn't say bird flu is a relevant risk to humans who buy infected birds or eggs to eat from the supermarket, the issue (according to the narrative) is that the virus will wipe out the flock and before it does, infect other birds, so the entire flock must be exterminated to prevent the spread (to other chicken flocks).

It's quite reminiscent of the Wuhan virus which was going to kill everyone but then only killed the elderly and everyone who caught it just felt somewhere between mildly ill and nasty flu, unless they were on their death bed with cancer, in a car accident or 94 years old, in which case the covid tragically took their lives and is solely responsible for preventing them going on to live forever in prosperity.

It's almost like the dangers of viruses are massively hyped up and if you ignore the propaganda you don't have a problem, and the same people spreading the propaganda make massive amounts of money if people believe it, both directly from the sale of vaccines, and indirectly from any health issues caused by them. It's almost like the medical industry makes more money the more unhealthy people are, and like any system it has a tendency to do what benefits itself...

But as for the bird flu, there is zero doubt that egg production has not been impacted in countries making no effort to deal with it, nowhere has anyone recorded a case of a human catching bird flu from an egg, and there are proposals for mass vaccination of domestic chickens which would make incredible money for pharmaceutical companies.

There are some details of the picture which are unclear, but you don't need to bother joining any dots to see the big picture at this point, just wake up, open your eyes and take a look.

it will be interesting to see how they vaccinate against a respiratory virus this time on birds to boot !

i wonder if we get to read the press releases on these safety trials

 

[Sdajii]

it will be interesting to see how they vaccinate against a respiratory virus this time on birds to boot !

i wonder if we get to read the press releases on these safety trials

It will be more ridiculous than last time, but chickens won’t complain and since humans won’t be getting jabbed, even the ones who see what's going on won’t generally care much anyway.

Given the recent nonsense, another mass vaccine rollout on humans would either have extremely low voluntary takeup or if it was compulsory or "voluntary" in the same way the last one was (people I know in this region all knew people who were dying within hours of their covid vaccines and were terrified but took them anyway because they were even more terrified of the government - there was something seriously wrong with the vaccines used out here), there would be absolutely massive opposition this time. Even a large proportion of the people still saying they trust the covid vaccines would say 'I think I might just sit this one out' if another one was to be pushed on them. So, the next boogeyman impacts chickens instead and they can make their fortune manufacturing vaccines for fully obedient chickens, tolerated by apathetic taxpayers.

Not to brag, but I'm eating six eggs most days now

 

[divs4ever]

It will be more ridiculous than last time, but chickens won’t complain and since humans won’t be getting jabbed, even the ones who see what's going on won’t generally care much anyway.

you are an optimist ... of course it will spread to humans , they will have a PCR test to prove it , and the symptoms will be almost like the seasonal flu ( except the unusual death rate , because they died WITH a positive test ) .... maybe Peter Dutton will spread it on a commercial flight just like he did last time

( but it won't be allowed to stop the elections ... will it ? )

maybe i should watch for the dip and buy extra PFP ( like i bought them in December 2020 @ $3.00 )

and Australia will be touting it's new vaccine facility pumping out jabs for the masses

it MIGHT be more ridiculous , but ridiculous sold heaps last time

 

[Sdajii]

you are an optimist ... of course it will spread to humans , they will have a PCR test to prove it , and the symptoms will be almost like the seasonal flu ( except the unusual death rate , because they died WITH a positive test ) .... maybe Peter Dutton will spread it on a commercial flight just like he did last time

( but it won't be allowed to stop the elections ... will it ? )

maybe i should watch for the dip and buy extra PFP ( like i bought them in December 2020 @ $3.00 )

and Australia will be touting it's new vaccine facility pumping out jabs for the masses

it MIGHT be more ridiculous , but ridiculous sold heaps last time

You raise some valid concerns, er, you have some appropriate and no doubt correct insights into the pending disaster and fully appropriate response to it.

But in all seriousness, I do think it is unlikely there will be much of a push to say it is a human health risk. Maybe a small amount to encourage the low fruit to go for it, the idiots up to their 8th covid boosters who still wear a mask and yearn for more lockdowns, but for fear of backlash I doubt they'll push hard. Then again, in early 2020 I would not have believed they would try to cause such economic and personal devastation over a slightly overblown cold, or that most people would be so willing to comply with obvious insanity, and it did take me about a year to reset my expectations to something more realistic after continually thinking it would develop in a less insame way than it did, so it does seem I am prone to erring on the side of giving the public more credit than they deserve, and the government with less assumption of evil and incompetence than they deserve (not to belittle how incredibly evil I know they are).

When it comes to the government, sure, they'll try anything, they're ruthless and in some cases are incredibly stupid, but even if the public is too stupid to have really learned all that much, I think they'll be less willing to cooperate than last time, and the ones who were not fooled last time will be far quicker to take far more resistive action the second time, with some individuals with chips on their shoulders from last time like to go full blown extreme if anything similar happens again. Many people lost their businesses, families and more last time - people who have lost everything and have nothing more to lose are very prone to taking drastic action against anyone working against them. People who lost everything and have since built up something which they now stand to lose are prone to being extreme in their willingness to defend what they have. Provoking people repeatedly brings out more of a reaction, and last time towards the end enough people were fighting back to end the situation. A lot of people saw that and will be easily rallied if it happens again.

But, yes, I overestimated how much resistance there would be last time and perhaps I'm out with my estimate of what would (will?) happen in a similar situation in the not too distant future. I'm absolutely sure that there would be a significantly stronger public resistance than last time though, even if less than I expect.

 

[divs4ever]

if there is a human vaccine their will be a push , it is all about the money , and justice has not prevailed

but i note Karma is slowly doing it's work , no cosy prison cell for some

 

[Craton]

UPDATE, here locally...

When we shopped at the local IGA where we bought our last lot of two doz eggs recently, there was no restriction on the quantity one could purchase.
Yesterday arvo partner shopped at that very same IGA and said that now, there's signage at the eggs section stating a restriction of two doz per customer.

Not a huge surprise as partner had noted on numerous occasions (and I've seen the same myself) many a local restaurant owner filling their shopping carts and emptying shelves or leaving the shelves quite bare of said eggs.

Partner has also noted many a grey nomad doing the very same bulk buying.
Thus, at least for us, demand outstripping supply equalling more availability and hip pocket pain.
Am pondering if the cyclone Alfred has also impacted on supply?

As we still have 16 eggs partner didn't buy anymore. Silly isn't it, counting and rationing eggs?
I'll update our buy price per doz again when we next procure these scarcities...

 

[Dona Ferentes]

UPDATE, here locally... When we shopped at the local IGA where we bought our last lot of two doz eggs recently, there was no restriction on the quantity one could purchase.
Yesterday arvo partner shopped at that very same IGA and said that now, there's signage at the eggs section stating a restriction of two doz per customer.

Coles completely out early yesterday arvo.

 

[Craton]

Which has reminded me @Dona Ferentes I failed/forgot to mention, my partner also said that there were no eggs available, zip, nil, nada at that IGA yesterday.

Side note.
Bit of a tradition with my partner's nephews as they like to celebrate their b/days' at their (and ours) favourite local Chinese/Asian restaurant. Tonight is no exception, so be interesting to see how much my partner's veggie omelette will cost compared to the last b/day approx. a month ago.

 

[Sdajii]

This thread has at least quadrupled my personal egg consumption. Six egg omelette coming up for my lunch after the market closes. I have 10 chicken and 10 duck eggs in the pantry, duck or chicken... tough choice. Thanks to all the contributors in this thread on behalf of the nice lady at the local market I buy my eggs from. She's quite proud of having a white man as a regular customer and when I turn up she excitedly tells everyone around her that I can speak both the local languages (even though I'm not great with either). This thread (and stories from my friends in Australia, Western news articles etc) makes the experience of buying eggs feel like some sort of special privilege, it feels exciting to go buy them even though they're cheap and abundant. Though the locals think I'm a bit extravagant for eating so many duck eggs.

Being surrounded by cheap, plentiful eggs really puts the absurdity of the Western egg situation into perspective. Australia/the West cuts its own throat and sends itself into rapid decline while the third world surges ahead. Looking around here the pace of development and advance is dizzying, while every time I go back to Australia the progressive collapse is clear, usually it's noticeable even since the previous visit which is generally about 6 months earlier.

It's not primarily bird flu, it's primarily a deliberate effort to sabotage the industry using bird flu as an excuse. The collapse of the West is not accidental or through incompetence (incompetence does play a role, sure), but it's happening by design. The zombified mentality of Australians is horrifying, most of them literally want the government to nanny state them harder, they want the government to control them and enforce more and more strict rules, even though those same people complain about how terrible politicians are and how they should be paid less etc (they should be paid more incidentally!).

 

[Craton]

In an effort to learn more about the ongoing egg shortage, time allowed me to use my Google Fu.
Found this posted approx. 6hrs ago on 9News.
Seems it's not all doom and gloom however, will take awhile for supply to get back to normal.

Egg shortage shows no signs of letting up as supermarkets continue purchase limits​

An outbreak of Avian Influenza or bird flu on a small number of properties in Victoria has left Australian shoppers worried that current egg shortages could drag on even longer.
The February bird flu outbreak is separate to the 2024 outbreak that devastated the egg industry and left supermarket shelves bare.

Though that original outbreak has since been contained, the effects are still being felt around the country and supermarkets intend to continue to enforce purchase limits following the latest outbreak.

Rowan McMonnies, managing director of Australian Eggs, told 9News that though the shortages are ongoing it's important to remember that egg supply in Australia has not collapsed.

"The industry is still supplying 18 million eggs every day [and] is recovering well from the 2024 incidents but unfortunately there has been a further outbreak in February which has extended the disruption to egg supply," he said.

"The industry was on track to balance up supply but now there is some further work to do."
McMonnies predicted that, despite this setback, consumers should see relief by the end of the year.

A return to normal supply should also help ease the rise in egg prices, which have spiked by up to 30 per cent over the last six months in some cases.

"As in all industries, prices are driven by supply and demand and it is expected supply issues will ease as the year unfolds," McMonnies said.
A Coles spokesperson confirmed to 9news.com.au that purchase limits on eggs will remain in place as the supermarket giant closely monitors the latest outbreak in Victoria.

"We will continue to work closely with all our suppliers to ensure eggs remain available for our customers," they said.

"To manage availability, we will continue to maintain the purchase limits that have been in place since the first outbreak in Victoria in 2024.

"We kindly ask our customers to consider others in their community and purchase only what they need."

The spokesperson added that Coles will continue to stock egg-alternatives while it works through the current egg industry supply challenges.
Woolworths is taking a similar approach, a spokesperson confirmed to 9news today.

"The 2024 outbreak reduced the number of laying hens in Australia, which unfortunately will take a while longer to rebuild," they said.

"In the meantime, the egg industry has been working to boost supply market-wide.

"Our egg supply has continued to improve and we are working closely with our suppliers to source as many eggs as possible."

9News understands existing purchase limits will remain in place at Woolworths until further notice.

 

[divs4ever]

well i have 9 eggs sitting in the nest under the care of two fat black hens and a rooster hoping to turn those eggs into chicken dinners in 2026/2027 and get a few extra eggs on the way

the other 4 red hens are laying normal eggs but not as regularly as the hen that came with the farm and has unfortunately passed away from old age , the old girl laid an egg nearly every day despite being mauled by dogs twice and chased up a tree by dogs another time , the newer bunch are not living up to the performance of the old girl

 

[Craton]

UPDATE again.
Friends of ours reported a doz Coles 800g eggs cost them $14.00 yesterday.

 

[Sdajii]

UPDATE again.
Friends of ours reported a doz Coles 800g eggs cost them $14.00 yesterday.

I'm feeling like even more of a millionaire every time I hear about the egg situation, and it inspires me to eat more eggs. The woman I buy my eggs from at the local market and the people in the stalls around her are marvelling at how many I've been buying. Mostly duck (which of course are a small part of the egg market).

I went into town and took some egg pictures at the supermarket, showing plenty of eggs, the plastic cartons I was talking about, and quail eggs which are also cheap and abundant (I'm personally not a fan, I'd like eggs to be five times the size so I didn't have to crack so many, not so tiny that it multiplies my workload drastically).

Eggs here are usually sold in cartons of 6, 10, 20 or trays of 30. Or from the trucks in trays of 30, or markets in bags of whatever you want, usually people go for 10.

 

[qldfrog]

Yesterday Sri Lanka, plentiful
18c aud per 11 so i assume 18c each as that would bd ridiculous cheap otherwise and feed is similar price on the world market