The Easter bunny is giving out plastic eggs this year because he doesn’t have enough chocolate coins to afford real ones.

Shoppers, too, are seeing a spike in egg prices before the holiday. The average price of large eggs is 44 percent higher than it was at this time last year, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Officials explained the jump is a result of both Easter time demand and an outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza A, or bird flu.

“We’ve seen some pretty substantial price increases over the last two weeks or so,” Chris Anthony, manager of Country Harvest Family Market in Palmerton said.

While the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspective Service confirmed the virus has been detected in commercial and backyard poultry in 24 states, no cases have been found in Pennsylvania as of last week.

To quell the spread of the virus, the standard practice in the poultry industry is to destroy all infected and exposed birds. That means fewer egg-laying hens at a time when demand is at one of its highest points.

“Eggs are a market-based commodity, so they fluctuate with supply and demand weekly. When supply is short and demand is high – I mean we’re going into Easter – so demand for Easter eggs, baking, cooking and that kind of stuff increases the demand on that particular commodity,” Anthony said.

And thus, prices rise. The USDA reports the national average for a dozen of large eggs is currently $2.60, up from $1.60 in January.

While no cases of the virus have been reported in the commonwealth, states including Delaware, Maryland and Iowa have been hard hit. Across the nation, an estimated 23 million birds have been euthanized. Of that amount, 80 percent were chickens raised for meat and 20 percent for their eggs, explained Chris Herr, executive vice president of the PennAg Industries Association, which represents Pennsylvania’s agribusinesses.

Herr said PennAg keeps abreast of the situation, and noted the commonwealth continues to monitor the bird flu situation.

But if someone unexpectedly consumes meat or eggs from a chicken infected with the current strain, the chance of them becoming ill is essentially impossible, he said.

Herr said the illness is not transmissible through food.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also noted that the risk to humans is extremely low.

“So far, current H5N1 bird flu viruses lack changes seen in the past that have been associated with viruses spreading easily among poultry, infecting people more easily and causing severe illness in people,” according to information from the CDC. No human infections have been identified in the U.S.

And even though the price of eggs has risen, Herr said they still remain an affordable protein.