Namakkal
Chickens reared in farms in Tamil Nadu lay eggs up to 80 weeks. They are then sold for meat. In that way, 25 lakhs of adult laying hens are sent to Karnataka and Kerala states for meat sale every month. Generally, when egg prices rise, there is a shortage of laying hens. At that time they will keep 85 to 90 week old chickens and sell them. When the price of eggs falls, they will sell at 75 weeks.
The price of egg chicken which has been rising like ‘Kitukidu’ for the last few days has now touched Rs.110 per kg. Tamil Nadu Egg Poultry Farmers Association Vice President Wangili Subramaniam said:-
Due to lower purchase price than the production cost of eggs, farmers were incurring losses. So the farmers have been avoiding hatching in the farms for the last 8 months. Since the price of eggs has been rising for the past few days, no one has come forward to sell even the few available chickens. So there is a shortage of chicken. Hence its purchase price is increasing.
This is what he said.