Egg prices in America have been surging, and now it may be harder for people to keep the breakfast staple in their fridge.

As the bird flu decimates flocks of laying hens and restricts their supply, grocery stores are implementing new policies to prevent people from hoarding eggs.

A spokeswoman for the grocery chain Trader Joe’s, Nakia Rohde, told ABC27, “Due to ongoing issues with the supply of eggs, we are currently limiting egg purchases to one dozen per customer, per day, in all Trader Joe’s stores across the country.”

“We hope these limits will help to ensure that as many of our customers who need eggs are able to purchase them when they visit Trader Joe’s,” Ms. Rohde said. Other grocery store chains, such as Kroger and ALDI, also have implemented limits on eggs throughout the country. 

While grocery stores are trying to stop people from hoarding eggs, the shortages are also impacting restaurants. Waffle House said it will implement a temporary $0.50 surcharge on egg orders due to their soaring costs. 

The main reason for the shortage is the contagious H5N1 strain of bird flu that has been devastating flocks of laying hens. The virus was first detected in North America in 2021 and has been infecting millions of animals and killing millions of birds. In February 2023, a reported 50 million chickens were affected by the virus. By December 2024, the American Veterinary Medical Association reported that more than 125 million chickens and turkeys had died from the virus or were culled.

There is no treatment or vaccine for the virus, and when it is detected in a flock, it is culled. In the last four weeks, it has led to the loss of more than 14 million laying hens. 

Besides the culling of flocks, there have also been some restrictions on the selling of poultry. In New York, Governor Hochul ordered live poultry markets to sell their healthy birds, undergo a disinfection process, and then temporarily shut down until they can be inspected. 

“Safeguarding public health is all about being proactive, and New York State is continuing our coordinated effort to monitor for the Avian Influenza,” the governor said.

As the virus continues to spread, the average price of eggs has risen to about $4 a dozen. 

While it may be hard to find eggs in the near future, the president of the American Egg Board, Emily Mertz, told Fox News Digital the situation may not last too long. 

“It’s going to take a sustained period with no additional HPAI [highly pathogenic avian influenza] detections on egg farms to stabilize supply,” Ms. Mertz said. “The good news is that egg farmers have a lot of experience working together to move eggs across the country to where they’re needed most — and that’s exactly what they’re doing now.”

While the bird flu has made it hard for Americans to find eggs, it has not had as much of an impact on chickens that are raised for meat. That is partly because chickens raised for meat are typically housed on different farms and are younger than laying hens, so if they are lost due to the virus, they can be replaced quickly.