Are egg prices up significantly?

Or are the reports overblown that attribute higher prices to an outbreak of avian flu that has affected some 47 million chickens and turkeys?

Well, yes and no, according to the Department of Agriculture. “We have seen a very sharp run up in wholesale egg prices, and now they’re starting to come down,” said Shayle Shagam, a livestock, dairy and poultry analyst at the agency.

Mr. Shagam said the wholesale price of New York large shell eggs, the ones he watches to make his forecasts and reports, peaked at $2.49 a dozen on May 29, up from $1.20 a dozen at the beginning of the year.

The price stayed at that level until June 9, when it began falling, Mr. Shagam said, and on Tuesday, a dozen eggs was $2.16, a 13.25 percent decline.