With grocery stores limiting how many eggs customers can purchase as prices reach record highs, early-bird customers have been lining up before the sun rises to buy eggs at Billy’s Egg Farm in Chino.
A winter rainstorm didn’t keep customers like Bruce Lee, a Billy’s regular, away Thursday, Feb. 13. He was second in line when the gates opened at 8 a.m., cars lined up around the block behind him as rain sprinkled down.
“It’s the best,” said Lee, who shares his Billy’s haul with family and friends. “Eggs are better and these prices are better.”
Getting in line early is key for customers like Lee since Billy’s, which only sells direct to customers, is out of eggs by 11 a.m. most days.
Billy Mouw, who owns the egg farm, comes from a long line of farmers. He houses about 30,000 chickens, he said, and the team starts every day around 4 a.m., grabbing fresh eggs and packing them for customers, who begin lining up shortly after 5 a.m.
“It’s always busy here at Billy’s,” Mouw said. “But right now, with the egg shortage, it has increased.”
The farm has seen an uptick in customers in recent weeks, serving about 600 a day, Mouw said. The farm has a 100 eggs-per-car limit, and Mouw said about 35% of customers purchase 100 eggs.
The farm’s eggs are worth the wait to many, especially bakers who need a large quantity of eggs for their own businesses. Many grocery stores have been limiting the number of eggs customers can buy at one time.
Staci Hernandez, who was a little further down the line of cars Thursday morning, said many stores have had a two dozen limit on eggs. She needs to bake 400 cupcakes this weekend, she said, making waiting in line at Billy’s a necessity.
“They’re kind of saving the day with a lot of people,” Hernandez said. “A lot of small businesses.”
Eric Herman, who got in line around 7 a.m. Thursday, said he’s been a customer at Billy’s for years. He stops in about once a month.
“The eggs are always super fresh,” Herman said. “The people are nice, and even though the lines are long, they expedite them pretty quickly.”
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There have been rushes on egg farms in recent years, especially during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when some people loaded up on supplies as a way to prepare for quarantine.
A 2023 spike in egg prices also caused concern — in February 2023, a dozen large eggs retailed for $5.62, up from $4.83 at the beginning of December 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
But the spike in egg prices in recent months is the biggest since the last bird flu outbreak in 2015, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and relief is not expected any time soon. The agriculture department predicted last month that egg prices were likely to go up 20% this year. And as eggs are a major ingredient in products, the prices of other food items, such as baked goods and mayonnaise, are on the rise.
In California, the average price for a dozen large eggs was $8.97 in late January, according to the federal agriculture department. The average prices for extra large and jumbo eggs were $8.99.
At Billy’s, a dozen large eggs sells for $8.50, extra large for $8.75 and jumbo for $9.
Even if affordability is not an issue, the shortage of eggs has made it difficult for some customers to find them. Some grocers are having trouble keeping their shelves stocked, even when they place limits on cartons.
As a result, shoppers are shuffling between grocery stores or taking their business to local farms.
Arnott Farms in Mentone is among those reporting an increase in customers in recent weeks.
At Arnott, a 30-count carton of large eggs retails for $21.75, extra large for $22.75 and a 20-count jumbo carton sells for $16.
“We’ve definitely seen an influx of customers, that’s for sure,” Jackie Ingalls at Arnott Farms said. “We are selling out, but we’ve been fortunate and we’re trying to do releases a few times a day.”
The farm is a bit of out of the way, Ingalls added, but that’s not stopping shoppers from finding it.
Some farms, however, such as Patterson Family Organics in Perris, are unable to take on new customers. Patterson is reserving eggs for regular customers and farmers’ markets. The farm can be found at the Palm Springs farmers’ market every Saturday and Long Beach every Sunday, according to a recorded message on the farm’s phone lines.
Chino Valley Ranchers in Colton also is not taking on new customers but receives requests on a fairly ongoing basis, general manager David Will said.
The company supplies eggs to grocers in the area and has not been impacted much by prices, Will said, but they do not sell to the public.
“It is getting tougher and tougher to find eggs,” Will added.
