LAKESIDE, Calif. — The price of eggs seems to be soaring and now, they’re hard to find even if you are willing to pay. The bird flu has been causing supply issues since March and people in San Diego are finally feeling it.

Hilliker’s Ranch Fresh Eggs explains the issue started on the East Coast, but “it just kept moving to the West and all of a sudden it’s to the Midwest and now it’s on the West Coast. It’s killed over 57 million birds,” Frank Hilliker said. 

People were showing up to the ranch up until the last minute of business Friday, happy to finally find eggs in stock.

Santee residents Chris Lefaiver and Tracy Gulino said their local grocery stores were empty and when they could find eggs, they were at a high cost.

“We paid over seven dollars for a 12 pack at Vons and I said I’m not doing that again,” Gulino said.

The ranch they say has about 30,000 hens, laying more than 25,000 eggs a day.

“If avian influenza were to come on to this farm, we would have to euthanize every bird. One bird gets it, we have to euthanize them all and that is the last thing we want to happen,” Hilliker said.

Hilliker says the ranch sets aside a lot of eggs to sell directly to the community and they try to keep prices fair and consistent, even when it gets tough. The other side of the business involves wholesale.

“The egg market is all controlled by supply and demand. The government sends out a price every week and we follow it,” Hilliker said.

It’s a large factor for why we are seeing prices soar.

“A couple weeks ago the wholesale market with record high and now it’s starting to go down, so eventually once the supply chain kind of catches up, we’re going to start seeing more inexpensive eggs in the store,” Hilliker said.