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A Chino farm is attracting new customers. It’s egg economy
Mar 4, 2025
Good morning. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.
Local? Farm fresh? In this eggonomy?
Lately, buying eggs requires crossing your fingers and shelling out.
The national average price of a dozen eggs hit a record high of $4.95 in January, a result of the shortage driven mainly by the avian flu epidemic that’s doing a number on commercial farms. Prices are way higher in California, where some stores are charging more than $9 a dozen.
As SoCal residents seek a nice egg in this trying time, some are finding alternatives to the supermarket, such as Billy’s Egg Farm in Chino.
Billy and Michelle Mouw’s family farm has been hand-feeding their chickens and providing fresh eggs for 32 years.
The line of cars for their egg drive-through has been longer than usual lately. When I arrived 30 minutes before opening time, it stretched roughly a quarter-mile down the road.
How long would you wait for fresh eggs at a reasonable price?
Billy’s Egg Farm’s newfound popularity
“People have told people and now they’re coming and they find out that the eggs are really good and fresh and they want to come back,” Billy Mouw told me last week.
That freshness is the draw, he explained, because customers drive away with eggs that were laid by a hen within the last 24 hours.
The Mouws have about 30,000 chickens, though some had been taking some time off to shed and regrow their feathers. The farm, which limits each car to 100 eggs, had been selling out around noon, Mouw said.
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