this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2025

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How high are chicken meat prices in the us? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 3 weeks ago by weker01@sh.itjust.works to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

35 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I heard that the egg prices are out of control due to bird flu and greed. How did this situation impact the chicken meat prices?

It's hard to google local prices actual people pay in other countries for commodity goods like chicken and bread :/

all 36 comments

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[–] Asafum@feddit.nl 19 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I'm forgetting what exactly the reasoning was, but I looked this up at one point and apparently there's a difference between the chickens used for laying eggs and the chickens used for meat. It's not that one is resistant to the virus or anything, but apparently we aren't concerned about the stock for meat. It won't be affected as much as eggs.

Prices haven't changed for meat by me. $3.99/lb for the cheap supermarket "brand" as it always has been.

Edit: I looked it up and actually the chickens used for meat, broilers, are apparently more resistant to the virus but also live MUCH shorter lives. They were bread to bulk up quickly to go to slaughter as fast as possible while chickens used for eggs take more time to get to egg laying age and are more likely to get the flu and die.

[–] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Yeah, different breeds for one, but meat birds are often only raised to a number of weeks in commercial ops (I want to say 6-8 depending upon the breed and other factors, but I'm not 100% on that).

Layers don't put on the weight like meatbirds nor in the same places. They also tend to have useful laying lives measured in years (I want to say 3 at peak production, but again I only know a tiny bit).

[–] quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

That's exactly it. In meat production, if you have to sacrifice the entire stock because of flu, in six weeks you're back in busines.

For a hen to lay eggs it needs to reach maturity, that takes at least 20 weeks.

[–] tiredofsametab@fedia.io 2 points 3 weeks ago

From what I hear, the hatcheries are (or at least were) super screwed. Some did specifically switch from layers to almost exclusively meat birds based on the random farming youtubers I watch.

[–] Today@lemmy.world 15 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

Here are a couple of pics of this week's ad at a grocery chain.

[–] weker01@sh.itjust.works 15 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Thanks, believe it or not but I find it actually really interesting how prices differ and what products are sold.

If I travel I always try to go to markets where local people buy their groceries

[–] Today@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Me too! I also love to go to hardware store on vacation, especially small, old independent ones.

[–] weker01@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 weeks ago

Another good one is second hand shops. When I was in Helsinki I've found really cool stuff there.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Where?

[–] Today@lemmy.world 5 points 3 weeks ago

Dallas, Texas

[–] njordomir@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

7.99/lb for Atlantic Salmon is a good price. I've only seen it go a dollar below that and not in a while.

I noticed meat prices jump at the start of covid. I used to shop at a store that was somewhere between a Whole Foods and a farmers market. They had all the prepackaged processed organic foods that will break the bank, but also cheap veggies that weren't quite nice enough looking for mainstream groceries. They used to have some of the most affordable meat in town.

Now I just go straight to the local butcher (lucky to have one). Sure I pay 2-4 times as much, but it's better meat, it's a local business, and the grocery stores don't get a cut! I just eat a bit less meat.

[–] Today@lemmy.world 1 points 3 weeks ago

We have Sprouts and it's kind of like that - lots of organic options, pricier than Kroger but not as high as whole foods. We also have a couple of great butchers. We use them as more of a splurge - holidays, parties, or those days when you really want a wagyu hotdog.

[–] I_Fart_Glitter@lemmy.world 9 points 3 weeks ago

California Bay Area: Safeway store brand is $2.49/lb for whole chickens or whole legs, $5.99 for boneless, skinless breasts. Free range (Rocky) is $2.99 for whole/whole legs and $8.99 for breasts. Organic (Rosie) is $3.99 whole, $10.99 breast. It was cheaper pre pandemic, the bird flu hasn't raised prices a second time.

[–] edg@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Chicken prices are going to skyrocket because the people who work the farms are all from central and south America. They're already pulling their kids from school and are laying low. If ICE really starts cracking down Chick-fil-A is fucked.

[–] Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 3 weeks ago

Meh, fuck Chick-fil-A anyway.

[–] TimewornTraveler@lemm.ee 7 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Meat chickens are totally different from egg chickens. The meat ones are born to die and don't live nearly as long, so the virus hasn't affected the population as much.

I made myself sad

[–] MagicShel@lemmy.zip 6 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I'm right here and I can hardly tell. Local store here in the Midwest has fresh chicken breasts for anywhere from $2.49/lb (store brand 5lb package) to $7.49/lb. (Brand name, no hormones or antibiotics, grain fed 1.25lb package)

[–] Today@lemmy.world 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

My husband thought he got a good deal on eggs the other day and excitedly asked, "how much are eggs?" I said, "somewhere between 2 and 10 bucks. White, brown, regular, cage-free, store, or eggland?." He moped away and never told me how much he paid.

[–] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I spent $7/dozen on cage-free, free-range blue eggs a few days ago. They were delicious on my gyudon.

[–] Today@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Oh that's really good for fancy eggs! What are blue eggs?

[–] HelixDab2@lemm.ee 2 points 3 weeks ago

They're eggs taht have blue-tinted shells. Really. AFAIK, aside from the color, there's no real difference between them and brown or white eggs, if the chickens laying the eggs are treated equally. Free range & cage-free eggs, particularly with small flocks that aren't just eating chicken feed (e.g., they're also foraging) should have a slightly better nutrition profile. People with more discriminating palates than I have say that the yolks have a more orange color, and a better flavor.

[–] weker01@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Would you say the price did get spread further out or were they always that far apart?

[–] Zeppo@sh.itjust.works 4 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

You can go to grocery store sites and set your location to a specific store, and look up items.

Anyway I looked it up at my local Walmart (Arizona, US) and boneless breasts are $2.69 a lb, boneless skinless thighs, 3.49, and wings, $1.19 a lb. Ten lbs of chicken leg quarters, $6.50. So it doesn't seem to have gone up a lot.

[–] weker01@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Unfortunately many US grocery stores geo block the EU :/

Probably because of privacy laws? I guess I could use a VPN but asking here was easier / more fun.

[–] Zeppo@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago

Oh, I see. Just an idea. I was wondering if maybe they'd block or redirect you.

[–] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

These prices are confusing. The first two are about the same for me but somehow your wings are nearly a third the price.

[–] Zeppo@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 weeks ago

The prices vary based on how much usable meat there is in the cut vs. bones, and how much work went into cutting it. Wings are mainly bones for instance. It can also be how fast it sells, so the risk the packages will spoil before they're sold and what quantities they order or produce it in.

[–] RangerJosey@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Between $3 and $4 per pound for chicken breasts here.

[–] aaron@lemm.ee 3 points 3 weeks ago

Where's here? They're $5-6 in Texas.

[–] FireTower@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Whole Young Chicken: $1.69 / lb

Chicken breast: $2.99 / lb

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

That's nuts. How do farmers live with those prices? Oh, wait, chicken farmers are taken advantage of and bankrupted by Tyson every day of the week so they can buy out their operations at pennies on the dollar after working 20 hours a day to keep their heads above water.

But supply-side management is communism.

[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world -1 points 3 weeks ago

Also the workers in the farms and meat packing plants are illegal immigrants and children that they can illegally pay less than min wage.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I get a 5lb bag of frozen breasts for $13, so I am paying about $2.60/lb.

[–] OceanSoap@lemmy.ml 1 points 3 weeks ago

Egg prices are coming down. Chicken is up but just slightly.

[–] swelter_spark@reddthat.com 1 points 3 weeks ago

Chicken breast sells for about about $6-7 per pound where I live. Dark meat is a little cheaper. Factory farmed can be even cheaper, but I don't like to support companies like that treat animals badly.