Colorado’s cage-free egg law entered its final phase on Jan. 1, requiring that all eggs sold in the state come from fully cage-free facilities. The law, which was passed in 2020, has been implemented in phases over the past five years, gradually moving the state’s egg supply toward compliance.
Daniel Zangari, technical services section chief in the Inspection and Consumer Services Division with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, explained that the law was developed in response to consumer demand and structured to give producers time to transition. “The cage-free law passed in 2020 through initiatives set up by legislators, and that put the Department of Agriculture in charge of implementing it,” Zangari said. “The law was written to take a phased approach to where we start working on moving toward cage-free facilities.”
The first major benchmark of the law came in 2023, when all eggs sold in the state had to come from facilities that provided at least 144 square inches of space per hen. As of this month, the final phase has taken effect, meaning that egg retailers who sell more than 25 cases per week must source eggs from fully cage-free facilities.
According to the Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA), the transition has been largely successful, with the department issuing 74 certificates of compliance for farms outside of Colorado that are now permitted to sell eggs in the state. All five of Colorado’s major egg producers have been working toward full cage-free compliance since the law was passed. “All of our Colorado producers — we have five major producers — all of them are fully cage-free facilities,” Zangari said. “They have worked towards being fully cage-free since it was adopted in 2020.”
Despite this, consumers may have noticed higher egg prices and even shortages in some grocery stores, leading to speculation that the new law is the primary cause. However, Zangari pointed to another major factor affecting the industry: avian influenza, more commonly known as “bird flu”.
“The issue that we are currently seeing is the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza,” Zangari said. “Since it first hit in 2022, we’ve seen lots of heavy losses in bird populations, both in conventional and cage-free facilities. High-path avian influenza doesn’t discriminate — it doesn’t care if the bird’s in a cage or not.”
According to CDA, more than 127 million domestic birds across the U.S. have been affected by avian influenza since 2022, including nearly 10 million in Colorado. Zangari said that since mid-2024 alone, Colorado has lost approximately 3.4 million egg-laying hens to the virus, affecting three of the state’s five major egg producers. “When it hits a facility, all the birds in that facility must be depopulated,” he said. “It takes a while for those facilities to get the population back up, to get them back online, and to get to a point where they’re able to produce eggs again.”
While avian influenza has disrupted egg production nationwide, the impact is particularly severe in states that supply eggs to Colorado. “Just in California alone, since December 2024, they’ve had 11 of their egg-laying flocks affected by high-path avian influenza,” Zangari said.
While the law impacts large-scale commercial operations, backyard chicken keepers are not affected. “Any producer that has more than 3,000 egg-laying hens falls under the cage-free requirements,” Zangari said. “If you’ve got a backyard flock with eight birds, you don’t have to worry about this.”
CDA is emphasizing an education-first approach to enforcement as the law fully takes effect. Inspectors will work with retailers facing supply chain disruptions due to avian influenza to ensure they can continue providing eggs to consumers. Existing eggs will not be removed from shelves unless a recall or human health concern arises.Consumers looking for eggs that comply with Colorado’s new law should look for packaging labeled “CO-COM,” “organic,” or “cage-free.” CDA maintains a list of compliant egg suppliers on its website, ag.colorado.gov/eggs