A chicken walks into a bar and hops onto a bar stool. The bartender says, “Wow!  That is amazing.” Then, the chicken orders a beer.  Incredulous, the bartender says, “You should be in the circus!” “Why?” answers the chicken. “Do they need an engineer?” Old joke.

If the bartender had been smart, he would have asked,”Do you want an egg in your beer?” Obviously this was a special chicken. These days that might make sense, since suddenly, chicken eggs cost as much as $8.00 a dozen and the cost keeps going up. Granted, that’s not as much as the cost of a Faberge’ Egg, which at the Faberge’ Museum in St. Petersburg, (Russia not Florida) can cost as much as $300 thousand to $33 million dollars, and you can only look at it.

I recently bought a dozen eggs for $6.95 (a bargain). When it was time for breakfast,  I had a taste for  scrambled eggs. When I cracked the first shell, to my surprise, an egg with two yolks  slid out of the shell, and into the bowl. I then cracked a second shell, and— “Lo and Behold”—two yolks slid out of that one too. Before scrambling them, I ran to my computer to ask Dr. Google if double yolked eggs are safe to eat. Then I discovered that not only are twin yolks safe, but a rare phenomenon that occurs roughly in one out of every 1000 eggs. “The odds of discovering an egg with a double yolk are about the same as the odds of catching a foul ball at a baseball game.”

The next day, I cracked two more shells and found that they also had double yolks. There are many superstitions about double yolked  eggs, but I will adopt the one that says that my $6.95 eggs will bring me good luck. So far, I haven’t burnt the toast, so that puts me way ahead in the good luck department.

So, okay, why are eggs, double yolked or not, so expensive? Sadly, its due to an outbreak of Avian Flu that requires farmers to destroy whole flocks, even if just one hen tests positive. Also, a ban on selling eggs from traditionally caged hens will exacerbate the situation. In my state (Arizona) regulations took effect on January 1, 2023 that, in the name of humane treatment, egg laying hens have to be kept in cages with at least a square foot of usable floor space. Until now, hens were crammed into cages much smaller than that. Also, in 2025 all major producers must go cage free. So depending on how many eggs you eat, the cost of a single egg could go up as much as a cost of a single shrimp. Some other states are also joining Arizona’s lead.

Some companies such as Costco and McDonalds have begun to demand cage free eggs, and some big producers such as Hickmans may be egged on to walk on egg shells, and go along if they don’t want egg on their face— and prices will invariably go up. Consequently, when you go to the market, you may discover that a broasted chicken is cheaper than purchasing a dozen eggs.

Perhaps, we will finally discover the answer to the age-old conundrum:

“What comes first—the Chicken or the Egg?”

Esther Blumenfel