Bad Birds

Producer prices jumped 0.5% last month, due mainly to rising gasoline prices, but the 56.4% rise in chicken egg prices, the largest increase since at least 1937, helped. To date, 47 million chickens have been killed due to Avian Bird Flu, of which 38.5 million were egg-layers, 12.7% of the flock. Part of the problem; the number of commercial egg companies is fewer than 200 and average 1.5 million birds/company.