RICHMOND, Va. — With the shortage of eggs still impacting shoppers nationwide, CBS 6 spoke to two Central Virginia small business owners who shared the changes they’ve seen since the shortage began and costs started to rise.
According to the World Population Review, which tracks global population data and trends, the average price for a dozen eggs in Virginia is just under $5 at $4.96 a dozen. Several Central Virginia grocery stores are also still limiting the number of eggs customers can buy at one time.
Jeannette Mortimer with EJ Farms in Sutherland and Kathleen Canfield with Canfield Farm in Varina both say business is booming.
“We have way more people reaching out, actually,” Mortimer said. “We have a list for orders for the first time ever, and we've actually had a huge increase in selling hatching eggs for people that want to hatch their own chickens and chicks sell out as soon as they hatch.”
Mortimer’s focus is on selling eggs, and she hopes to eventually have 250 laying hens, while Canfield primarily hatches eggs to sell the chicks.
“My friends are asking for eggs, and I tell them, ‘Well, I could charge you $5 for a carton of eggs, or I could, you know, wait three weeks with them in the incubator and get $120 for that carton of eggs,’” Canfield explained. “So that's what I'm doing. I'm hatching them and selling them.”
Both business owners said they’d encourage people to consider shopping locally for eggs, emphasizing the better quality and longer shelf life compared to eggs bought at the grocery store.
“If you buy eggs at the grocery store, they're sanitized before they're sent out, which means that they're basically like bleach-bathed to make them clean,” Mortimer explained. “Their chickens are in giant, either warehouse-type structures on a concrete floor or in cages where they can't be an actual chicken and run around outside. Mine are outside. They eat bugs, eat scraps, whatever they want to eat, and they lay better quality eggs. They taste so much better than a store-bought egg.”
“The eggs you're getting from the store have already been around for a while,” Canfield added. “I've got a bunch of eggs waiting to go in the incubator, and they've been sitting there for, you know, a month. I've just been compiling them, and if I wanted to eat them today, I'd just go rinse them off and eat them. It'd be fine.”
Having chickens is something both Mortimer and Canfield encouraged, both saying potential owners should do plenty of research beforehand.
“If you're going to get chickens, it's not really a hobby,” Canfield said. “You've got to look into it. You've got to do some planning, own some power tools. Be aware that emergencies will happen. And yeah, it's great if you've got kids and want to teach them responsibility, but just as a little hobby to get eggs, it can be a lot more expensive and more trouble than you think it might be.”
“It's not cheaper to have chickens just for eggs, unless you really want them as pets. It costs a lot to feed them, a lot of cleaning, lots of predators,” Mortimer said.
However, both women love having their hens around.
“We started with six. They ended up being a friend's chickens that they got during COVID, and they didn't want anymore, so we took those in. And by day two, I had 10, because I went and instantly got chicks because I fell in love on day one,” Mortimer, who now has around 80 chickens, said. “Then we've rescued, either people have passed away, and we've taken in their chickens, or there's been situations where they just needed a home, and we went and got about 40 of them, or rescues.”
“I've got 22 babies right now, nine adults. I've got about 24 in the incubator. I've got 60 eggs ready to go in the next incubator,” Canfield said. “So, yeah, I've got a few, and chickens, they're just, they're fun. I mean, look at them. But I like knowing where my food's coming from. I like raising my own. You know, it's nice, it's wholesome, and the egg quality is so much better than the grocery store.”
Anyone feeling inspired to get into chicken ownership can find information on the laws and regulations in your area below:
Amelia County
Charles City County
Chesterfield County
Colonial Heights
Cumberland County
Dinwiddie County
Goochland County
Hanover County
Henrico County
Hopewell
Petersburg
Powhatan County
Prince George County
Richmond
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