While the U.S. grapples with an egg shortage caused by avian flu, eggs remain plentiful and affordable in Canada. There are reasons for that, including that egg farms there tend to be smaller.
Source: Why Canada has plenty of eggs — and the U.S. doesn’t : NPR
fta:
But perhaps the biggest difference is that egg farms in Canada are much smaller, so when one farm does suffer a flu outbreak, the effects are less far-reaching. The typical egg farm in Canada has about 25,000 laying hens, whereas many farms in the U.S. have well over a million. In effect, American farmers have put a lot more of their eggs in a relatively small number of baskets.
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So, what has kept Canadian egg farmers relatively small? Von Massow points to Canada’s supply management system, which guarantees even small farmers enough income to stay in business.
tl;dr: much larger flocks; ~10% of layers culled in jan-feb 2025; similar to the reason bird flu spreads amongst us cow flocks: massive high-intensity farming leads to easier spread of disease. we know the solution: return to smaller-scale farming practices, improved sanitation, more inspection, etc. but that will slow down production, leading to higher proicess, and as can be seen with eggs, ain’t nobody wiling to do that. and maybe a good side of supply management.
an interesting Reddit post by an alleged ontario chicken farmer:
