You can’t individually cause a shortage. You also can’t influence what others will do en masse. May as well take care of you and yours.
I mean unless you buy pallets worth of things that you’ll never use in your lifetime
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I was going to suggest getting chickens if you can. They can also eat a lot of table scraps and bugs if you let them free range a bit. @esme is probably our expert on urban homesteading and might have more insight into the costs of raising chickens. You are probably right that feed prices are going to increase too.
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I legit wouldn’t get chickens right now with this avian flu outbreak. I know two people (very small scale farmers) who have both lost their entire flocks. It’s totally heart breaking, and unless you have the space and knowledge for biosecurity measures I would wait.
That being said, I adore chickens and backyard eggs are wonderful!
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Its only going to get worse. HPAI ( highly pathogenic avian influenza) moves with bird migration. The last major outbreak in 2015 saw a bit over 50 million bird depopulated. The season extends til mid june when things get drier and warmer. It is not looking like a dry or warm spring in the midwest states. There have been over 27 million birds depopulated allready. Experts are trying to say that we have better biosecurity and it shouldn’t be as bad as 2015 but I am deeply sceptical based on the current intake reports and spring forecast.
Edit to add… Breaking Down the HPAI Outbreak. This is the best article i have read on comparisons between 2015 and 2022. My spouse is working on the state level emergency response to HPAI so i am overly interested in this topic.
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I buy from local farmers and their prices are usually not impacted by bird flu outbreaks (high prices but stable prices), but this years has me nervous for sure. Scared my CSA farm will lose their flock- we’re near a river and AFAIK they don’t have anywhere inside they can keep their birds long term. So, migratory waterfowl contact risk for sure.
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The best thing to do (what is being recommended here) is to cover your run, not allow free ranging until later in the summer, and make sure there isn’t food around to attract migrating birds.
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I would also say, raising your own chickens probably isn’t going to save anyone a ton of money*, and is a lot of time and effort, depending on where you live and what kind of predators are around, and what sorts of diseases etc you have to treat for. But it does provide more food security and allows you to control what you are eating. A trade off.
I say this as someone who keeps meaning to start a flock but hasn’t quite gotten there (in over 5 years). Lots of people here have “backyard”/farmyard flocks, and you can find eggs for sale in little roadside stands all over the place.
*It might not save you any money at all, if you are used to cheap factory farm prices.
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The data for backyard farmers is interesting. Testing is certainly more established so we may know about more incidents. It’s also less likely they will be forced to (though of course they may) raise prices since either they get it and lose their entire flock or they don’t get it and aren’t impacted. In 2015 my local supplier didn’t raise prices at all and by the end of the pandemic was basically within 25 cents of the supermarket price. Of course I’ve moved since then
Edited:
Bird Fatality
If you have 1 case the entire flock needs to be depopulated. For backyard farmers who are typically not as quick to put down everything as the commercial barns, we are seeing like 60% flock fatality in under 72 hours from the first bird having symptoms. And by then they usually get the confirmation of a positive and have to depopulate the rest. I know more about commercial bird depopulation than ever wanted
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I just mentioned this on the money saving mindset thread, but I thought I’d post here as well:
https://www.amazon.ca/Ener-G-Egg-Replacer-454g/dp/B000QSS2C4/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?adgrpid=111396169417&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9uOmoe6i9wIViSlMCh0pUg_GEAAYAiAAEgIGifD_BwE&hvadid=481100080948&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9000887&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=12895738652892560111&hvtargid=kwd-301744298295&hydadcr=18538_13352135&keywords=ener+g+egg+replacer&qid=1650465297&sr=8-1
This is what I use for baking. You can also use flax or chia as a lower carb binder. But for someone sitting down and eating eggs, it obviously doesn’t work
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Yeah I am worried about the avian influenza problem. I’m in the northeast US. Our egg prices are all over the place, anywhere from 2.89 to $6 per dozen depending on fanciness. I’m sorry that it’s hitting so hard where you are, that really sucks!
As a bit of an aside…Ugh I feel you on this! As someone who was born with sky-high cholesterol (seriously, since age 1 - it runs in my family), I am so exhausted by the whiplash of “are eggs good for you or not”! After seeing the “science” swing back and forth I’ve settled on the fact that eggs are delicious, make me feel good, and I’m suspicious of anyone who is judging my personal food choices.
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I do check when I can, but sometimes it isn’t possible/ polite to do so (grocery delivery, picking the carton from the pay counter in the tiny local veg store, the crack is underneath so not obvious). But basically quality is down enough they’re chucking in eggs they normally wouldn’t. I do buy “free range” eggs, for whatever good it does, bit normally the caged eggs aren’t much cheaper
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Uhhh typo? 
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I admit I’ve not followed the avian flu as closely as others here. Thanks for the info!
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I meant “chucking”
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Haha I thought it made perfect sense as is 
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My guess was “trucking” 
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What did it say?! I must know
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Starts with F…
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Finally Sam’s had a deal on eggs for $2.33 per dozen. They are brown, cage free and come 2 dozen per flat. Picked up 12 dozen of these since eggs everywhere else are $3 to $3.18. (Again was 99 cents 6 months ago lol.)
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