People on fixed incomes cannot afford to shell out extra money for necessities.

Otherwise I avoid them.

but I was glad to see this:

I wonder if it would have any effect nation-wide, however. Didn't some state recently pass a bill making it illegal to take pictures on a farm? "Factory" farmers are not going to conform willingly, I fear.

to ensure humane treatment of egg-laying hens.

good for the people who tend to them, and good for everyone that consumes eggs to know that there is humane treatment that brought food to their table.

I'm one of those who generally buys a couple flats of them at a time, prices had doubled. What used to cost $5.99 was about $11.

While I didn't like it, I still bought the eggs. The way the increase in price occurred, all of a sudden, wham, coupled with immediate news releases to explain, suggests little more than a rigged market.

I like the idea the birds are treated more humanely. I don't think I believe the rationale however. I suspect the drought has raised grain prices, and this law is just providing a convenient excuse.

I can't guarantee, if prices remain as high as they are, that I won't find alternatives to eggs. Maybe it's time to find that hummus recipe, and eat that for morning sandwiches instead of egg sandwiches. Hummus is cheap to make when you make it from the dry beans..... It freezes well, you can make a huge batch up ahead of time and keep it on hand.

so you're probably right, it's just a convenient excuse to jack up the prices.

And free range and family farms will be able to compete against factory eggs now too. I buy eggs from our farmer's market for $5 a dozen. Store eggs were $4, so if they increase which is likely, it will be close to the same. But the farmer's eggs are jumbo, golden, often double yolk eggs so they are definitely worth a little more. Plus if you buy two flats, like I do as we eat a lot of eggs for cheap protein, it's a good deal.

When your Portlandia bullshit starts causing the rest of us pain, it's time to fuck the fuck off.

are crammed into tight rows of such cages with other stressed hens can peck at them all day, yep. All that' is WORTH IT for cheap eggs.

If not, the pain you might be complaining about "feeling" is the excuse that most grocery stores will use to jack up prices 70% instead of the 12% - 20% increase it might actually cost for the one-time retro-fitting to meet Prop 2 requirements. Also, from what our local (I live 10 miles from the Hilliker's farm that was profiled in the article and regularly buy their eggs from our local IGA/bodega) now cage free ranchers have begun to indicate, the large-scale operations that supply supermarket and corporate eggs have found that hens tend to be healthier and not require as many veterinary visits and antibiotic supplements and do not have to deal with as many sick or replacement hens as they did when the hens were caged - which is currently reflected in the price and quality of the eggs you are getting.
For the record, over this year, soon after the retrofitting, the Hilliker farm eggs have been getting better - they seem tastier, the whites are less runny and the yolks are a bit larger, so they've become better to bake with, and the shells are sturdier; there's less breakage found at the store. Two eggs instead of three are now enough for a moist cake like devil's food or red velvet, and instead of using four eggs to make cheesy scrambled eggs for a four-person family breakfast, I only use three and there's still enough for everyone - because they cook up fluffier and denser. I'm using fewer eggs this year to make the same things I made last year.
Actually, I'm spending less. A 6 x 6 flat of large cream to brown eggs from Hilliker's has only gone up about a dollar at the bodega - $6.99 up from $5.99, but I need about 1/3 fewer for what I'm doing and don't need to purchase the flats anymore.
I'm now getting by with two, sometimes two and a half of the standard 12-cartons a month, and I'm only spending around on average $4.75 to $5.60 on the eggs I use every month rather than the full $5.99 for a flat and perhaps another $2.00 for another 12-carton to make it through that last week-end.
Now, Hilliker's eggs are about $1.00 - $1.50 more at the chain supermarkets (i.e., Vons or Ralphs) than at the IGAs... and that's a corporate mark-up (because they can) issue, not a Prop-2 issue.
Vons and Ralphs are actually getting the eggs cheaper than my local IGA because they're getting volume discounts, but they're charging more... go figure.

Anyway, that's what cage free hens gets you. It's not Portlandia BS.

Haele

Also, this reform was necessary. A little price bump that was taken advantage of by supermarkets.

Sorry,

- A Californian who will not fuck off, and will keep his state right here in the Union.