Americans Take ‘Egg Flow’ Measures to Break Inflation
FOX Business’s Jeff Flock gets a chicken coop in his home, a trending purchase Americans are making amid “egg inflation.”
Americans flock to the roost, literally.
With the price of a carton of eggs rising nearly 64% in some states, consumers are choosing a more traditional alternative by renting fully-functioning chicken coops.
“The price of eggs has definitely increased our sales,” Phil Tompkins, owner of Rent the Chicken, told FOX Business’s Jeff Flock on Friday on “Mornings with Maria“after bringing a chicken coop to the Flock’s home in Pennsylvania.
Tompkins, which has been helping families raise backyard chickens for 10 years, can ship a barn-style chicken coop equipped with chickens and feed almost anywhere in the US or Canada.
Supposedly, business has been booming for Tompkins as the staple has seen a significant price increase recently. While prices vary across the country, photos of 12 and 18 counts egg cartons priced at around $8 have gone viral in the last week.
On Friday, the Flock met one of Tompkins’ many hens, Laverne: “She makes a little cluck because she’s being quoted to tell the world she’s going to lay an egg.”
Home-based chicken coop rentals have “definitely” skyrocketed amid rising egg prices, Rent the Chicken owner Phil Tompkins said on “Mornings with Maria” on Friday, Jan. 27, 2023.
Andrei Rjedkin, a New York-based junior economist at food industry market information publisher Urner Barry, previously told FOX Business that the combination of high energy prices, the cost of food, shortages of labor and highly pathogenic avian influenza have contributed to “egg inflation”.
“All of these factors converge to result in a staggering 247% increase in the wholesale cost of a dozen eggs, from $1.47 in January 2022 to $5.09 last month,” Rjedkin explained.
As of December 2022, the “US city average” cost of a dozen Large Grade A eggs fetched $4.25, according to Federal Reserve (FRED) economic data.
“Prices should really stabilize in the next 24 to 36 months,” Tompkins said of the egg market. “But right now I can tell you, I can bring you some chickens.”
Rent the Chicken customers pay about $500 per season, or six months, for the chicken coop and all its supplies. Also, you can name your new feathered friends.
FOX Business correspondent Lydia Hu has the latest on the impact of bird flu in ‘America’s Newsroom.’
“I drop them off in the spring, you enjoy your chickens all summer, and in the fall you can keep them, or at any time you can chicken out and I’ll pick them up.”
The ultimate goal and hope of Tompkins’ chicken coop rental business is for consumers to become attached to their chickens and adopt them.
“When you adopt, we’re your chicken friends for life,” Tompkins said, explaining that the company will continue to support your coop after adoption.
In reaction to the costs of tra-eggs, Senator Jack Reed, DR.I., called on the Federal Trade Commission to open an investigation on “potential price gouging and other deceptive practices” as prices have skyrocketed.
GET FOX BUSINESS ON THE GO BY CLICKING HERE
FOX Business correspondent Madison Alworth reports from a farm in Howell, New Jersey, on the avian influenza epidemic that is driving up egg costs across America on ‘The Claman Countdown.’
The Rhode Island Democrat noted in a letter to the agency’s president, Lina Khan, that the price of a dozen eggs rose 138% in December compared to the same period a year earlier, citing data from the Bureau of Statistics. Labor.
“Consumers are used to seeing some volatility in the egg price market, but the current price surge in the industry’s favor warrants careful scrutiny. Independent federal watchdogs must analyze the facts and follow the evidence to ensure that consumers are treated fairly,” he said in the letter to the FTC. Reed noted that the Department of Agriculture had found that the price increase in the sector was “much greater than the decreases in production.” caused by bird flu.
Cortney Moore and Julia Musto of FOX Business contributed to this report.