Major egg shortage in New Zealand but ‘please don’t have chicken’

The New Zealand government already announced legislation in 2012 that would ban battery cages from that year. More than a decade ago, 86% of all New Zealand eggs came from battery cages. The chickens have only one A4 sheet of space there.

millions of chickens

Due to the approach of the law, chicken farmers got to work. Last month, 10% of eggs used by New Zealanders came from battery cages.

But now that the law has been introduced, it seems there aren’t enough chickens in New Zealand. According New Zealand media there are currently about 2.5 million laying hens, while about 2.9 million are needed to meet demand.

Thus, New Zealanders have been struggling with empty shelves for weeks, which supermarkets say is causing great frustration among customers. Plus, people are looking for chickens in droves, according to The Guardian from research revealed by the New Zealand Marketplace (Trade Me).

“Sounds like a good idea”

Over the past week, the number of people searching for “chicken-related” products on Trade Me has increased by 77%. “I understand that sounds like a good idea, but please don’t buy chicken if you can’t take care of it for a long time,” Gabby Clezy of the animal welfare organization SPCA told the Guardian. “We don’t want to see more abandoned chickens.”

Ten years

Clezy warns people that chickens can live for more than ten years. “It surprises people,” she explains. It takes a few months for hens to lay their first eggs and they only do so for the first two or three years. “Chickens are good pets, but don’t buy them as egg producers.”

Professional chicken farmers have promised that the egg shortage will be resolved in a few months. Control the impulse purchase of a chicken, says Clezy. “We’ll get through this too.”