SEATTLE — If you’ve been to a grocery store recently, you may have noticed that eggs are a little bit harder to come by. KIRO 7 crews went to a few grocery stores and found empty shelves and some stores running out of cartons quickly! Grocery store workers say the problem is coming from the Avian Flu outbreak and from new cage-free egg laws in Washington.
The Washington State Department of Agriculture said there hasn’t been a case of bird flu confirmed in the state since December of 2023. They said they’ve been able to keep the disease at bay because of efforts to beef up biosecurity by egg farmers.
“We’re seeing a lot of wild waterfoul introductions so maybe they’re sharing the same water source or maybe the chicken coop gets pooped on,” Amber Betts, from the WSDA, said. She said this outbreak stems from wild water foul interacting with hens. Rawley Johnson owns Early Bird Egg Farm in Tacoma and said he’s always made a big effort to keep his hens away from wild foul. Johnson provides eggs for Marlene’s Market & Deli and said they’re not running into the same issue as larger stores that source from bigger farms and have plenty of eggs to go around.
“I use this portable electric fencing and we move our chickens all over the pasture out here, but the chickens stay put inside the fence,” he said. “From what I’ve heard from the data is that the risk of that sort of an interaction where the feces fall from the sky is a lot lower than the risk of direct interaction.” Johnson said he moved his chickens to a new space every couple of weeks and his approach makes that easy to do.
“We’re lucky enough to be able to easily move these mobile coups our chicken coups are on wheels, with the portable fencing all over our ten acres of the farm throughout the year,” he said.
KIRO 7 reached out to the Washington State Department of Health about concerns over avian flu and they provided a statement saying, “While the current public health risk related to Avian Influenza is low, DOH continues to watch the situation carefully and monitor people exposed to infected animals. People who have job-related contact with domestic or wild animals, or those who own poultry, livestock, or other animals should be aware of the risk of exposure to avian influenza so that they can take proper precautions and wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).”
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