MIDDLEBURG – Yvette Musgrove was talking to a customer when another opened the door at her Yum: A Southern Market. The door was triggered with an animal-sounding alarm to let her know somebody was entering her cozy market of knick-knacks and homemade bakery delectables.

Musgrove took a slow gaze at the door and mumbled.

“That door alert will be changed before I go home,” she said.

The sound of a chicken clucking or a roster crowing every time the door opened suddenly seemed personal, as if they were laughing at her financial despair.

There’s nothing funny about the price of eggs jumping from $28 a case for 30 dozen to $230, Musgrove said.

Added to the prices of cream cheese and flour tripling in the last couple of years and the prices of butter and sugar doubling, Musgrove said she was going to use Sunday and Monday, the days her shop was closed, to decide which items to drop from her menu, which items to raise prices on and which new items will require fewer eggs.

“How are you supposed to make a living when you lose money every day? If you raise your prices, the sad part is salaries haven’t raised as much as our prices have gone up,” Musgrove said. “We can only raise our prices so much, or we don’t have any customers. I’m not anchored by a Publix or a Walmart, so people that come here have to consciously make a decision to come in here.”

 Passing the costs to customers

Laws prohibit restaurants and bakeries from using eggs from homegrown or family farms. They must use sourced eggs delivered from a supplier.

Waffle House made the difficult decision on Feb. 3 to add a 50-cent surcharge for every egg, and that led to others adjusting their pricing. Considering the price of an egg has increased by 56 cents in the last three years, that’s probably a bargain.

When asked if customers have noticed a change, one server said, “All day, every day.”

Huddle House charges an extra 50 cents for each egg, while the Black Creek Café was forced to charge 50 cents for an egg order. Denny’s announced on Tuesday an additional charge for egg-based dishes. It’s a $2 value menu selection that now costs $2.99.

Local breakfast spots like Sunrise to Sunset in Green Cove Springs, Maple Street Biscuits on Fleming Island, Nicole’s On the River in Orange Park, Kelly’s Country Kitchen in Clay Hill and Cracker Barrel and Metro Diner in Orange Park have not raised their prices or imposed surcharges.

Grumpy’s in Middleburg hasn’t changed any of its pricing, but owner Dell Hoard says that may soon change.

“Eggs are definitely becoming a challenge,” he said. “It’s come to the point where we may have to change our prices. A box of eggs costs us $120. That’s more than twice what we used to pay, and our food vendor said it won’t go down. If anything, it’s only going to go up.”

Hoard said each box contains 15 dozen, and his location uses as many as 30 boxes a week.

“We have to do something about it. We can’t keep taking a hit like that,” he said. “You want to keep the price at a point where people still want to eat out. We buy in bulk, so we get a fair price.”

Consumers are feeling the pinch at the grocery store. The price for one dozen Grade A large eggs on Monday, Feb. 24, was $8.19 at Winn-Dixie, $5.99 at Publix, $5.97 at Walmart, $6.49 brown free-rage at Fresh Market, $9.99 pasture-raised at Fresh Market and $4.99 cage-free at Fresh Market. Fresh Market has a two-dozen limit, but there were no eggs on the shelves.

The reason for nationwide shortage

Why are eggs so expensive?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the pandemic and inflation played a role, but the real culprit was the outbreak of bird flu, a highly transmissible and fatal strain of avian influenza.

The outbreak started in 2022 and became the largest in U.S. history. By Feb. 18, it affected more than 162 million birds. More importantly, it affected more than 126 million egg-laying birds, including chickens, which forced farmers to kill their flocks.

Fewer eggs and the lack of egg-laying chickens or a cure for the bird flu resulted in higher prices or the prospect of prices dropping in the foreseeable future.

Getting eggs straight from the source

Homeowners found a way to beat high prices by turning their backyards into mini barnyards so chickens can lay eggs.

At Russell Feed and Farm Supply in Middleburg, the demand for chicks has far outweighed their supply. The store received 500 chicks on Feb. 5, which were gone before the close of business. They got another 500 a week later, and they were gone before they closed the doors.

“People are tired of paying so much, so they feel it's easier just to get their chicks and raise them if they're able,” cashier Stacy Duncan said.

Judy and Jim Underwood have had chickens for years. Judy grew up on a farm, and they decided years ago against paying for eggs.

“They taste much better than the store-bought eggs,” Judy said. "They're much richer.”

Judy said the new chicken owners probably don’t know they won’t be ready to lay eggs for six to eight months. The nationwide shortage is expected to last at least that long since new flocks are so young.

The Underwoods have three Lavender Orpington chickens, each producing an egg daily.

“If you don’t wash the membrane off the outside of the egg, they can last a couple of weeks before you need to put it in the refrigerator,” Jim said.

“The chickens are like pets for us,” Judy said. “If you tell them something, they understand. If you ask them if they want a treat, they line up. If I sit down in my lawn chair, they’ll jump up in my lap.”

Former Clay County Commissioner Gayward Hendry used to get one call a month about people interested in buying chickens or eggs.

“I had eight calls in one week,” he said. “Everyone wants to raise their chickens now. It’s not that hard. Just keep them fed and keep predators away from them.”

Adjusting to an egg-free future

 When Yvette Musgrove returned to work on Tuesday, two things were different: The price of her eclairs increased from $6.50 to $7, and the door chime was a dog barking.

“I know 50 cents doesn’t seem like a lot, but it’s a lot to me,” Musgrove said.

“I got with my employees, and we started working on some egg-free recipes. We could use liquid eggs, but they don’t taste the same. Everything that goes out of here has my name on it. I won’t send anything out of here that isn’t good. We survived COVID. We survived the construction on College Drive. This one really hit us hard, but we’ll work our way through it.

“But you have to ask, when it will end?”