It turns out the chicken may have crossed the road to look for lower egg prices — and it’s unlikely they found lower prices there, either.

The cost of eggs has jumped an average of 49% in the last year, at a time when overall grocery prices have increased 12% by comparison.

Why? M-Live reports economists are pointing at the the deadly bid flu that swept across the globe in 2022. Major egg producers in the US lost 58 million birds, more than 40 million of them egg-laying hens.

The avian flu outbreak has surpassed a 2015 avian flu that spiked egg prices after killing 50 million birds.