The president of a local bakery estimates imported eggs have gone up by 200 per cent in the past year, forcing him to raise the cost of his baked goods.

“Looking at the wholesale egg prices this morning, they are pretty crazy,” Raymond Packwood, president of the Crow Lane Bakery said.

“I have not adjusted my prices in the last couple of years. I held them through Christmas, considering it my gift to Bermuda. Now, I have no choice.”

The US Department of Agriculture predicts the price of eggs will rise by at least 20 per cent in the US this year, triggered by the continued spread of avian flu. More than 20 million chickens have died, or have been culled, in the last quarter due to an uptick in the disease, which has been destroying American poultry since 2022.

Dunkley’s Dairy customers can expect imported egg prices go up by as much as 50 cents a dozen in the next week or so.

Vice-president and general manager Stephen Dunkley said his firm imported US eggs on a daily basis. Some American suppliers are now grappling with supply chain issues but Dunkley’s is still getting the eggs they order.

“Around 40 per cent of the chickens that supply eggs in the US has been lost to the Avian flu,” Mr Dunkley said. “That has increased demand and shoved the prices up. Even big stores in the United States, such as Publix, have empty egg shelves.”

He thought things could get even worse at Easter when demand usually causes egg prices to go up, anyway.

Chicken farmer Malcolm Smith, of Windy Bank Farm in Smith’s, has been deluged with calls from restaurants, hotels and individuals wanting to buy his eggs.

Mr Smith said he could put his egg prices up by 25 per cent and still not have a surplus at the end of the day. But he has not done that.

“We are doing the best we can in this situation,” he said. “Our egg prices have gone up a little bit this year, just factoring in some of our costs such as feed, electricity and manpower, but not by 25 per cent.”

He said local eggs were still the best deal in town.

“When we deliver our eggs to stores, they do not stay on the shelves for 24 hours. They are the cheapest eggs there.”

Windy Bank Farm has between 6,500 and 7,000 laying chickens and 2,200 pullets, chickens not yet old enough to lay eggs. When he brings in baby chicks it takes about five months for them to start laying eggs.

“It is quite a process,” Mr Smith said. “We are finding it harder to get replacement pullets.”

The farm now has to order pullets six to eight months in advance to get them in time.

He was considering expanding the size of his flock but said it was tricky. Putting in more birds is costly and he did not want to increase his numbers and then be caught out when the situation righted itself overseas.

Mr Smith said Bermuda’s chicken population had not been touched by avian flu.

“I don’t know of any outbreak here, ever,” he said.

His family have been running Windy Bank farm for 75 years.