LITHIA, Fla. — If you think the price of eggs is high now, just wait, because the USDA released its “Food Price Outlook” on Tuesday, and it says egg prices are predicted to increase 41.1% in 2025.
Despite the increase, teachers and staff at one Hillsborough County middle school don’t need to worry about it, because they’re locked in at $4 per dozen eggs, thanks to the student’s agriculture program.
“This is the land lab. We have about 12 coops and about 50 chickens,” said Agriculture Teacher Brittany Andrews. It’s a big grass field that’s since been turned into (the) students' farming area.
That is where students in the school's agriculture program start each and every morning, collecting eggs and caring for their chickens.
“We do waters, feed, and we just take care of our birds,” said Nathan Spencer, a seventh-grader.
Nathan has Olive, and one other bird who he’s directly responsible for. He says Olive, who is 3, is on the older side and doesn’t produce as many eggs anymore. But at the Land Lab, they have plenty of chickens who do.
“This coop, they have no roosters, so they don’t have any fertilized eggs, so this is the coop primarily just for eggs, and they produce a lot,” he said.
Andrews says while she didn’t grow up raising chickens like these students, she has always had a love for animals. She says this is the best part of the school day for many of these kids, even though it is a lot of work.
“The kids show them at fairs and festivals. They learn everything that there is to know about birds, the process of eggs going through the ovaries and out, they learn how to clean them, collect them, feed them, water them, what types of feeds, what kind of treats they can give them,” she said.
There is an entire process that involves cleaning the eggs, stamping them, and storing them. And thanks to these students’ hard work, teachers and staff here at Randall middle can then purchase the eggs at a price you can’t beat.
“Teachers, it’s hard sometimes, budget wise, so we try to keep it low. Actually we started around COVID, we noticed the price of eggs was just absolutely crazy. It’s been up and down, so we’ve collected consistently between $4-5. Right now it’s $4 and that’s on purpose,” said Andrews.
The USDA attributes the shortage of eggs in grocery stores nationwide to a bird flu outbreak, but these chickens at Randall Middle are far less susceptible, and checked by the state vet regularly.
“All of our birds are completely clean. We have a vet come out and they checked us and we even have a card saying we’re clear," Andrews said. "What that means though is I can’t bring birds in, and i can’t take birds out of our flock, but we can breed within our flock."
Which means, these birds will be providing eggs, and snuggles, to students and staff for years to come.
The chicken program at Randall Middle School started about 12 years ago with just two chickens. There are similar programs at some other Hillsborough County schools. All of the money collected from the sale of the eggs goes back into the program to help purchase treats and other materials for the chickens.
