With Super Bowl Sunday approaching, NPR looks at a different kind of chicken versus egg question: Why has the price of chicken wings remained stable while egg prices have soared? The answer, it turns out, is simple. The broiler chickens used for meat production have much shorter lives than egg-laying chickens, meaning there is less time for them to get infected with the bird flu that has devastated egg-laying flocks. Broiler chickens are typically slaughtered at around seven weeks, which is around 11 weeks younger than the youngest hens start laying eggs. Older birds "are more susceptible to the virus," Tom Super of the National Chicken Council tells NPR.
Broiler chickens live on different farms than egg-laying chickens—and while they're not immune to the virus, broiler flocks can be replaced a lot faster than egg-laying flocks. The current price of chicken wings is slightly below the five-year average, according to NPR, though Texas A&M Today reports that prices are expected to rise slightly as fans gear up for the Super Bowl. "The Super Bowl has always driven demand for wings, and that is not going to change," says David Anderson, a livestock expert at the Texas A&M Department of Agricultural Economics.
"But wings have also become an everyday menu item, which means we are seeing other spikes throughout the year likely based on supply and demand," Anderson says. "Wings were a poultry cut that used to be practically worthless," he notes. "Then someone tossed them in some buffalo sauce and dipped them in blue cheese or ranch dressing." According to the National Chicken Council's Chicken Wing Report, wing sales during the NFL playoffs were up 12% year-on-year. The NCC says Americans will consume 1.47 billion wings during Sunday's game, enough to circle the world three times. (Cracker Barrel is taunting Waffle House over its rival's egg surcharge.)
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