Shoppers in some parts of the country are finding empty egg shelves in their local grocery stores. And some grocery stores are limiting how many cartons shoppers can buy.

Though the avian flu is — for now — affecting flocks mostly in California and the Midwest, the diminished supplies are hitting grocers in Massachusetts.

Bird flu is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens a month, pushing U.S. egg prices to more than double their cost in the summer of 2023. And it appears there may be no relief in sight, given the surge in demand as Easter approaches.

Anytime the virus is found on a poultry farm, the entire flock is slaughtered to help limit the virus' spread.

Why are egg prices so high? A strain of bird flu, H5N1, has raged through coops across the U.S. It originally emerged among poultry flocks and wild birds in Europe in the fall of

Americans can continue to expect high prices for eggs this year, new estimates show, due to the ongoing avian flu outbreak and inflation. Egg prices are estimated to increase about 20% in 2025, compared to about 2.