# Should Shoppers Expect Higher Egg Prices After the Illinois Bird Flu Outbreak? Here Is What USDA Market Data Shows

> A bird flu outbreak struck a 934,600-hen egg farm in Clinton County, Illinois, but USDA data through October 23 showed national wholesale loose white Large eggs down 1 cent to 28 cents a dozen. NASS counted about 319.5 million table egg layers on October 1, up about 5% year over year.

- Date: 2026-10-29 · published 2026-10-29T12:00:00.000Z
- Category: disease · region US · magnitude low
- Page: https://feedsoft.ai/events/17122-should-shoppers-expect-higher-egg-prices-after-the-illinois-bird-flu-outbreak
- Commodities: [Corn](https://feedsoft.ai/c/CORN.md), [Soybean Meal](https://feedsoft.ai/c/SBM.md)

## Why it matters

A layer loss of roughly 0.3% of the national flock is too small to lift prices on its own, but a string of large detections during fall migration could tighten supply and raise egg-layer feed demand.

## Read by commodity

- SBM: neutral
- CORN: neutral

## Similar past events

| Commodity | Date | Event | 5-day % | 20-day % |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CORN | 2021-12-08 | [Bird Flu Outbreak Raises Fears of Egg Price Hike](https://feedsoft.ai/events/43596-bird-flu-outbreak-raises-fears-of-egg-price-hike.md) | -0.3% | -1.0% |
| CORN | 2017-03-10 | [Chicken Prices Rreach Record High Levels Due to Bird Flu Outbreak
						 \| The Poultry Site](https://feedsoft.ai/events/72132-chicken-prices-rreach-record-high-levels-due-to-bird-flu-outbreak-the-poultry.md) | +1.9% | +0.8% |
| CORN | 2026-10-27 | [Bird Flu Forces Depopulation of 934,600 Egg-Laying Hens in Clinton County, Illinois, the Nation's Largest Active Outbreak](https://feedsoft.ai/events/17126-bird-flu-forces-depopulation-of-934-600-egg-laying-hens-in-clinton-county.md) | +0.0% | — |
| CORN | 2020-03-25 | [Egg shortages linked to bird flu outbreak -  Premium](https://feedsoft.ai/events/54156-egg-shortages-linked-to-bird-flu-outbreak-premium.md) | +5.3% | -3.8% |
| CORN | 2023-04-04 | [The world’s deadliest bird flu outbreak tightened egg supplies. Here’s how it’s hammering the industry. \| Supply Chain Dive](https://feedsoft.ai/events/36418-the-world-s-deadliest-bird-flu-outbreak-tightened-egg-supplies-here-s-how-it-s.md) | -0.9% | -3.2% |
| SBM | 2026-10-27 | [Bird Flu Forces Depopulation of 934,600 Egg-Laying Hens in Clinton County, Illinois, the Nation's Largest Active Outbreak](https://feedsoft.ai/events/17126-bird-flu-forces-depopulation-of-934-600-egg-laying-hens-in-clinton-county.md) | -2.3% | — |
| SBM | 2020-03-25 | [Egg shortages linked to bird flu outbreak -  Premium](https://feedsoft.ai/events/54156-egg-shortages-linked-to-bird-flu-outbreak-premium.md) | -3.2% | -13.2% |
| SBM | 2026-02-24 | [Avian flu outbreak threatens to reverse falling egg prices](https://feedsoft.ai/events/20605-avian-flu-outbreak-threatens-to-reverse-falling-egg-prices.md) | +0.4% | +5.7% |

## Sources

- foodworldnews.com: https://www.foodworldnews.com/articles/81794/20261029/egg-prices-after-illinois-bird-flu-outbreak.htm

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Data from Feedsoft AI (https://feedsoft.ai/). For information only; not investment advice.