UK pullet rearers and hatcheries are warning that prices will need to rise as mounting supply pressures threaten longer-term bird availability.
While improved egg returns have helped many producers recover over the past year, rearers say those gains have yet to filter through the wider supply chain. Industry discussions now suggest pullet prices could climb towards £6.50 per bird, driven partly by an expected 30p increase in chick prices.
Current BFREPA costings still list pullets at £5.74, with standard vaccinations taking the total to around £6 per bird, but rearers say that pricing is becoming unsustainable.
One rearer described a price increase as “inevitable”, warning that rising input costs are only part of the problem. Increasingly, breeder companies are choosing to place birds into alternative systems such as barn production, where returns are currently stronger.
Some rearers also say switching to broiler production is becoming a more realistic option if margins fail to improve, raising fears that further rearing capacity could be lost from the free-range sector.
At the same time, pullet availability remains extremely tight, with some producers reporting they are unable to secure birds until late 2027 or even 2028.
BFREPA estimates that a 50p per bird surcharge on a 32,000-bird unit would add around £16,000 to flock costs, an unwelcome extra burden for producers who may believe forward-booked birds are already secured at fixed prices.
With breeder flocks leaving the system and availability stretched years ahead, BFREPA said stronger returns throughout the supply chain are now essential to prevent further erosion of pullet supply and safeguard future British egg production.