Colorado Egg Prices: Why Have They Skyrocketed?

Colorado consumers are getting used to seeing empty shelves in the egg section at the supermarket. Over the last few months, a combination of the avian flu and HB20-1343, a Colorado law passed in 2020 that requires all eggs sold in Colorado to be cage-free by 2025, have pushed up prices and altered supply chains, resulting in higher prices and fewer eggs on store shelves. 

“The November/December window is the peak sales season for eggs when consumer demand is highest due to the winter holidays, and in that same period we lost more than 17 million birds—tight supply and high demand together are impacting prices,” Marc Dresner, Integrated Communications Director at the American Egg Board (AEB), said in an emailed statement.

That impact on egg prices is being felt at King Soopers, Trader Joe’s, Walmart, Safeway and Natural Grocers, which all have signs informing customers about the ongoing egg shortage. Some groceries have set limits to the number of cartons customers are allowed to purchase at one time, while others have signs encouraging shoppers to “grab a carton” for their neighbors.

Scott Gilsdorf, owner of local coffee shop La Belle Rosette at 2423 South University Boulevard, said he buys roughly 30 dozen eggs each week to stock the cafe. While finding a consistent and affordable supply of eggs has been an issue for years, he said availability has been especially challenging recently.

“The shortage has made it more difficult to find eggs, so instead of just relying on one particular source, there are multiple sources I rely on,” Gilsdorf said. “It could be Sam’s, it could be Restaurant Depot, it could be Costco, it could be Shamrock; it’s where I can find eggs.”

Avian Flu & Cage-Free Laws & Panic Buying, Oh My!

Colorado’s cage-free law, which went into effect on January 1, was conceived more than five years ago when World Animal Protection (WAP), a New York-based non-profit dedicated to animal welfare, began promoting a ballot initiative in Colorado that would have required all eggs and veal sold in the state to be cage-free by 2023. Colorado policymakers responded with HB20-1343, a bill that gave producers until 2025 to transition to cage-free egg production.

WAP Programs Director Cameron Harsh, who uses they/them pronouns, said the ballot initiative was part of WAP’s nationwide campaign to “create the legal structures that would require animals who are farmed for food to have a much better standard of living and conditions that allow for them to exhibit their natural behaviors, be safe and healthy, and also provide a better food system.” 

Dan Zangari, Technical Services Section Chief in the Colorado Department of Agriculture Inspection & Consumer Services Division, said the five-year transition period was key to helping Colorado producers adjust. 

“[Farmers] have been working towards having cage-free facilities since this law came about,” Zangari said. “There’s cage-free states throughout the country, so there’s a lot of farms and producers that had been moving towards that direction anyway.”

Different sources have different takes on the cause driving the egg shortage. One Trader Joe’s employee said their store’s shortages were due to the avian flu and subsequent “panic buying,” while a King Soopers employee said the shortage was due to distribution changes as a result of the cage-free law. 

Zangari attributed the bump in prices to the avian flu. “What you’re seeing is not due to the cage-free law,” Zangari said. “We’ve had approximately 3,400,000 birds that have been susceptible and had to be depopulated due to the avian influenza. That’s affected all five of our major producers here in Colorado.”

According to the AEB, both the flu and the law are at play. “We know that cage-free farms were disproportionately impacted by bird flu in the latter half of last year, so supply and pricing issues will be more pronounced with retailers and in states that sell exclusively cage-free,” Dresner said. While hens living in cage-free conditions make up 40% of the national egg-laying hen population, they make up more than half of the birds killed by avian flu.

The AEB noted that the flu “does not discriminate” according to hen housing conditions or farm size and is carried by wild birds. The avian flu has affected roughly 40 million birds across the United States in the past year. According to the Department of Agriculture, three out of Colorado’s five major egg producers have been shut down by the disease and are in the process of “rebuilding their flocks.” 

How These Factors Impact Pricing

These changes to Colorado’s egg supply chains have led to higher prices, and affordability remains a major concern for Colorado consumers. 

Traditionally a relatively cheap and accessible source of protein, a dozen conventionally farmed eggs in the US cost an average of $3.85 in December, up 31.4% from October, according to data supplied by the AEB. Cage-free eggs averaged $4.64 per dozen, a 24.1% increase from October.

At Clark’s Market in Lowry we found cage-free egg brands selling for $13.99 and $9.09. The cheapest dozen eggs at King Soopers was $4.99 on Wednesday, while the least expensive at Safeway was $8.99 for an 18-count, or roughly $5.99 a dozen. Trader Joe’s, which restocks eggs each day, was sold out of their cheapest option ($3.49) by Wednesday morning around 11 o’clock. 

While Harsh acknowledged that the transition from caged to cage-free eggs has cost consumers, they said it was not the only change driving price increases.

“Feed costs for corn and soy that are heavy in laying-hen feed and other synthetic additives is also increasing the cost of eggs,” Harsh said. “To pin it just on these laws requiring a transition to cage-free eggs is, I think, unfair and inaccurate.”

The bump in egg prices has also affected restaurants like La Belle. “If egg prices are going up, so is the cost of what it costs to make an item,” said Gilsdorf. “It’s going to cost the customer more to pay for it.”

Will Eggs Prices Ever Return to Normal?

As for consumers wondering when they’ll see some relief, the Department of Agriculture says they anticipate that Colorado’s egg producers hit by the flu will return to 60% capacity in March. As for full capacity, a department spokesperson said, “Those facilities that have been affected since [last] July should be back online by the middle of Q2 of 2025.”

While consumers will most likely have to contend with higher prices for several more months, for some, eggs will continue to be a staple regardless of price.

“If I were to get rid of eggs, I would probably get rid of half my menu,” Gilsdorf said. “They’ve been harder to find, but as far as cost goes, there’s really not a choice as to whether I keep buying eggs.”