California egg production keeps dropping
-April 26,2024-USDA reports in February said California’s egg production during January totaled 185 million, down 43 million from December’s production and down 100 million from January 2023.
The big drop is in the number of layers in January 2024 that totaled 7.78 million, down 18 percent from last month, and down 37 percent from January 2023.
Eggs per 100 layers were steady during the month at 2,377, compared to 2,389 a month earlier, and 2,310 in January 2023.
As of 1998 the state’s hen flock was around 25,000.By 2012, there were some 19,000 laying chickens in California That number dropped to 13,50 in 2022 and now is about half that.
Sounds like a trend.
The big drop seen in February numbers is likely impacted by the contagious bird flu virus that wiped out whole flocks of egg laying chickens in the state.
One report said “The highly contagious virus has ravaged Sonoma County, where officials have declared a state of emergency. During the past two months, nearly a dozen commercial farms have had to destroy more than 1 million birds to control the outbreak, dealing an economic blow to farmers, workers and their customers.”
Nerd Wallet reports that there’s an egg shortage nationwide because the ongoing bird flu outbreak reduced the number of egg-laying chickens.
” As of April 17, the virus has affected more than 90.6 million birds in the U.S. since January 2022, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of the birds affected were egg-laying hens.
New bird flu cases continue to be reported by major U.S. egg producers. Most recently:
Cal-Maine Foods Inc., the largest U.S. egg producer, announced on April 2 that it had found cases of bird flu in chickens at a plant in Texas. More than 1.6 million egg-laying hens and 337,000 juvenile chickens were affected at the Texas plant — or about 3.6% of the company’s total flocks, Cal-Maine said in a news release.
The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development reportedly found cases of bird flu at Herbruck’s Poultry Ranch, another major U.S. egg producer based in Ionia County, Michigan. The department didn’t specify how many affected birds were egg-laying hens, according to the Associated Press.
A total of 5.97 million birds were lost between the two facilities, according to the USDA’s Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook report released April 17.”
Cost of eggs
The Report continues”a dozen large white cage-free eggs cost about $3.02 per dozen in California, according to USDA market data released April 19.
Egg prices have been high in California because a string of bird flu cases in December and January were concentrated in the state. It’s possible retailers could’ve made up the losses with eggs from outside the state, but California law limits their alternatives.
In 2018, California voters passed a ballot measure setting high standards for farm animal welfare. That included requiring that only cage-free eggs be sold in the state. The share of egg layers raised in cage-free conditions has been growing, but they still make up less than half of the national population. And many of them are raised in California. USDA data show the national inventory of cage-free eggs took a big hit when California egg producers reported cases of bird flu.
Because of the diminished supply of cage-free eggs, prices went up. Weekly price data from the USDA shows California egg prices (meaning, cage-free egg prices) peaked at $5.59 per dozen during the week of Feb. 9. Since then, the supply of cage-free eggs has largely recovered, according to the USDA. That has eased egg prices in California.”
See chart showing prices in California easing.

Egg consumption nationwide is estimated at 277 eggs per person, but in California the average is 339 eggs per person. California is the number one egg consuming state in the U.S. for luck and healthy babies.

Despite challenges, production of eggs nationwide has generally been on an upward swing.(see chart)
But in California egg production was 317 million in December 2022, 277 million in February 2023 and today is down to 170 million. How much it will rebound in the state once bird flu is overcome we don’t know.
One report says “Although there has been a weekly increase in pullet flocks transferred to laying houses, hen numbers are constrained by the loss of close to 13 million hens due to HPAI on twelve complexes holding from 250,000 to 2.6 million hens during the 4th Quarter of 2023. Pullets are in short supply with losses of 2.5 million growing birds mainly in California.”
photo:Glaum Egg Ranch