Officials say Bird Flu cases in Texas should not affect egg and dairy prices at grocery stores

Many people like raising their own chickens.

“We have lots of chickens actually,” Kelly Thompson of Weatherford said. “We have about 30 right now we raise for meat and for eggs.”

Thompson and others are watching the news of the bird flu outbreak closely.

“We all talk about that,” Thompson said. “We talk about being careful. Being a little bit safer. When you are working with animals on a regular basis you are always cleaning up after yourself. You are always making sure you are washing your hands after you handle your animals.”

Grateful to have her own eggs, but she doesn't think the bird flu will cause higher prices at the grocery store.

“I think if the producers of chickens don’t use this as a way to really increase the prices I don’t think we’ll see a big hike because it’s such a small percentage of the birds that are affected right now and we’ve been through this before,” Thompson said.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller agreed.

“This facility is less than four percent of their production so there won’t be any spike in egg prices,” Miller said. “Eggs are totally safe. Poultry is totally safe to buy and eat.”

Miller added bird flu spreading to dairy cows in Texas and six other states shouldn't affect dairy prices either.

“All that milk was destroyed,” Miller said. “Again, it’s a very small percentage of, less than one percent, of the overall milk production that had to be destroyed. So, it’s not going to affect the price of dairy products at the grocery store.”

Still, some people are concerned and Thompson said that raised interest in local eggs.

“We’ve had a lot of friends calling asking can we get eggs from you instead of the store,” Thompson said. “We have a lot of our neighbors that used to not sell to outsiders that are now packaging up and selling because people have a little bit of a fear building.”