On January 12th, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the CPI for December. The results show that inflation has reduced by 0.1 percent to a 6.5 percent annual rate. The food index increased at the same time by 0.3 percent, bringing the total increase to 10.4 percent from the previous year.
The price of eggs, which has skyrocketed, was the single biggest factor in the increase in the food index. The BLS data show that egg prices increased astronomically by 59.9 percent year over year and 11.1 percent from the prior month.
Data from the St. Louis Federal Reserve showed that the average cost of a dozen large, Grade A eggs in the U.S. in December reached $4.25, up from $1.79 a year earlier. And anyone who has recently done any grocery shopping will attest to the skyrocketing price of eggs.
The present egg crisis is blamed on a historic outbreak of “highly pathogenic Avian influenza,” which has killed millions of chickens, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
A spate of messages circulating on social media claims that something more sinister may be to blame for the shortage of supply. A young man, possibly a farmer, made a claim last week on Facebook.
He wrote: “Ok so something really weird is going on, I have called multiple farms that sell chickens and they are all telling me that their chickens have stopped laying eggs and therefore they do not have any for sale. I looked into it a little further and apparently they are putting something in the feed to stop them from being able to lay eggs! If you have chickens and are having the same thing happen try to start feeding them a rice and pinto bean mix because it seems anything made as feed is being tainted with something that is causing this!”
A woman who has kept hens for over 30 years said in the tweet that she has never gone without eggs. But her chickens hadn’t laid an egg since Halloween until a week ago. They resumed egg production after switching from chicken to goat feed.
Another Twitter user reported that between last summer and last fall, her chickens stopped laying eggs. When she bought better feed from a nearby vendor, they started laying eggs once more.
Let’s hope this isn’t true. But anything is possible these days. pic.twitter.com/T1pxiW5rw8
— KeriA (@KeriA1776again) January 22, 2023
A woman tweets the following:
“Manufactured #eggshortage! Feed suppliers have added something to prevent hens from laying eggs. The consensus is Dumor or Producer’s Pride are the culprits. These bastards put s*** in the chicken feed to create an egg shortage!”
Manufactured #eggshortage!
Feed suppliers have added something to prevent hens from laying eggs.The consensus is Dumor or Producer’s Pride are the culprits.
These bastards put shit in the chicken feed to create an egg shortage! pic.twitter.com/INuLfOflsu
— Lisa (@LisasSovereign) January 12, 2023
A teenage woman said in a TikTok video that her hens had stopped producing eggs. They fed their chickens table scraps one day because they had a lot of leftovers. They started laying eggs the following day. She cited the commercial feed as the cause.
The same issue is echoed by the young man in the video asking, “Do you think it’s intentional?” additionally in the comment section, he invites others to share their opinions.
Chickens feed contaminated???? pic.twitter.com/lgr1nojTp5
— Conspiracy Prophet (@Natasha38585763) January 20, 2023
“Let’s talk about the chicken feed conspiracy”, one woman writes in her article as a response to what she sees as a “conspiracy theory.”
“This chicken feed conspiracy has gotten so far out of hand. … It’s completely normal for chicken egg production to drop as they get older. It’s also completely normal for chickens to stop laying or lay very little in the winter. It’s all natural.
Was this a particularly lean year for people? Yes. Do I think that the government’s putting something in the feed to stop chickens from laying eggs? No.
Do I think that the people that make the chicken feed might be cutting a few extra corners that results in the chickens not getting the same nutrients that they used to? Yeah, that’s probably a pretty good bet.
But, we haven’t changed a single thing about our chickens’ diet, have changed nothing else about their lifestyle, and they started laying at the first of the year just like we expected. We’re not averaging like three to five eggs a day. …
“So everyone just needs to cool their jets. Give your chickens extra protein in the winter. Understand this is a normal process and take everything you see on TikTok with just a grain of salt.”
let’s talk about the chicken feed conspiracy #chickenfeed #raisingchickens #chickenfeedconspiracy #conspiracytheory #backyardflock #chickentips pic.twitter.com/tKHxPzxOrz
— Lonely Pines Farm (@LonelyPinesFarm) January 23, 2023
Regardless of whether this is true or not, it’s generating conversation.
And starting a conversation about it could be the first step in discovering the true state of affairs with regard to hens in this nation.
Watch the video below:
@thatthingido #stitch with @thehotmesshomestead It’s the feed
Sources: WesternJournal, WSJ, St. Louis Federal Reserve, The U.S. Department of Agriculture
