A cook at Lincoln Square Pancake House in Greenfield prepares an omelette. Egg prices are still on the rise and are impacting business owners as well as consumers.
A cook at Lincoln Square Pancake House in Greenfield prepares an omelette. Egg prices are still on the rise and are impacting business owners as well as consumers.
GREENFIELD — The Lincoln Square Pancake House serves breakfast all day, every day. And it’s a fair bet that the bulk of the items on the breakfast menu — as well as many of the lunch choices — include eggs.

Owner Costa Stylianou shakes his head as if in disbelief.

“We hadn’t raised our prices since before COVID,” he says, “but egg prices are up 300 percent over the last five or six months.”

A bird flu outbreak has driven up egg prices. Three weeks ago, Stylianou increased his food prices by 40 cents across the board. “But not one person complained,” he says.

At the Greenfield Waffle House, the story is much the same. “We’ve raised the prices on all of our egg dishes,” says Olivia Kidd, certified relief manager.

While watching the price of eggs continue to rise has become a national pastime, Jade Neal of Redhead Homestead LLC has been raising her own chickens and harvesting their eggs on her farm since around 2020. She speaks out for local homesteads and farms.

“Avian flu isn’t affecting our prices at all,” she said. “This is primarily happening in the commercial world. This is teaching people to really support the local homesteads and farms. You’re going to know how the animals are being handled, and you’re more likely to know the farmer.”

Neal is also an authorized blood agent as part of the National Poultry Improvement Plan. She is trained to test birds for Pullorum Disease, a salmonella-based illness that can cause an 80 percent mortality rate in baby poultry. Her certification doesn’t include testing for bird flu, but she is trained to know what to look for.

“Once they get it,” Neal said, “they will be lethargic. They die quick.”

Neal describes her process when visiting another farm: “I wash my boots. And when I leave, I wash my boots again. I don’t wear normal clothes. I wear clothes that can be thrown away.”

Neal says good bio-security is key to ensuring the safety of a flock.

“Limit any foot traffic, vehicles around your flock — have nobody around,” Neal recommends. “Use good netting and good fencing. If we do that, we’ll be fine.”

According to the Indiana State Board of Animal Health, no cases of bird flu have yet been reported in Hancock County, but one non-commercial location in Shelby County, with 44 birds, is reported as depopulated. There have also been reports of dead Canada geese and sandhill cranes within the state.

Richard Garrett, president of Indiana Audubon, offers advice to the more than 400 bird watchers in Hancock County and to the countless residents who monitor home bird feeders.

“Birds catch it where they congregate,” Garrett said, “and birds congregate at the feeders. Clean them every week. Let the seed run out, take them in, rinse them off, treat them with bleach, rinse them again and take them back out.”

If people come across a dead bird, Garrett advises handling it as little as possible. “Wear gloves. Double-wrap them in plastic bags and get rid of them.”

Cox Farms is a small operation, selling 10 to 12 dozen eggs a week for around $3 a dozen. Owner Corrina Cox isn’t worried about bird flu. Her 20 chickens are free-range, but she checks them daily to ensure that they remain healthy.

“I check their eyes for drainage, beaks, feet and rear ends to make sure no discharge,” Cox says. “I make sure their feathers are soft and not matted.

“Support local farmers,” Cox says. “Happy chickens lay eggs daily.”
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