2025 is the year of Trump’s return to the White House, that of the negotiations on Ukraine, the Rearm of Europe, The tariffs and the distancing from Brussels and Washington. And against all prognosis 2025 it is also being the year of the Egg crisis. Literally. Good The US knowsplunged into a deep “ovoflation”but also Spainwhere in a short time the eggs have increased more than 20%. Thus, many households, especially in the rural, can think of mount To self -abuse.
It is not new or that has been done before in Spain. Of course, since 2024 more than chickens, grain and desire to have a domestic chicken coop is needed. If we want to save a fine, it is also necessary to fulfill certain procedures.
Issue of laws (and fines). That we lead all our lives seeing homemade pens in the villages, mounted on farms or courtyards with a few laying chickens, it does not mean that there is no law that regulates them. In July 2021 it was approved A Royal Decree which establishes certain “basic standards” to “order” poultry farms. And although it does not focus exclusively on “self -consumption” farms, it includes certain guidelines that its owners must respect.
If you have a chicken coop or even a small homemade corral you should know the decree. Especially because, although The text It is 2021, part of its rules on safety, hygiene and equipment did not begin to apply until relatively recently: on January 1, 2024, when the moratorium enjoyed by the farms that already existed.
And what does the decree say? One of the most relevant points for domestic farms is the one collected in article 16.5, which Specifies: “The holders of self -consumption farms will be obliged to carry out prior communication so that they are included in the General Registry of Livestock Explodes.”
The “self -consumption” nuance is important because The law also define clearly what requirements they must meet to be: not exceed a maximum number of birds or selling anything they produce. Neither young nor meat nor eggs. In case they would go to the category of “reduced exploitation”.
The requirement for home pens is less strict than the one applied to the rest of the farms, which before registering is required an authorization that accredits that they meet all the norms; But that does not mean that chickens for self -supply can do whatever they want. They must register. And among other issues are obliged to identify a reference veterinarian.
Question of eggs euros. Laws usually carry sanctions for those who break them. AND The 2021 decree About poultry farms is no exception. In the norm, no sanctions are specified in euros, but the corpus of laws to which the authorities will resort to an infraction does refer. In the case at hand, that of not registering a corral, the reference is the Animal Health Law of 2003in which it is identified as a mild infraction not to communicate to the authorities the births or entries of animals of an exploitation.
And how much does that mean? A good pinch. The sanction can go from 600 to 3,000 euros, everything depends on the circumstances of each case and aggravating as recidivism. The law also allows infractions to settle with a simple “warning”, although exceptionally. “It will only be imposed if there was no intent and in the last two years the person in charge would not have been sanctioned (…) for the commission of any other violation of the planned,” Clarify.
But … Is it a new standard? Not quite. In fact it has been feeling its effect in different regions of Spain for a few months. A year ago for example The voice of Galicia explained that the new requirement had left “an avalanche” of applications in the offices of the Department of Rural Environment, where they already accounted for 40,700 self -consumption chickens.
The high ones do not respond only to the fear of fines. Without the process, Corrales owners were already They couldn’t buy New offspring for its farms. In other regions the norm had a scope much more limited.
The eggs, under the focus. That the Royal Decree of 2021 is news is now explained for a simple reason: the eggs have become considerably more expensive in recent weeks. In a scenario marked by the increase in demand and the costs and ghost of the avian flu that hits the United States, the Ministry of Agriculture calculates that its price at origin has risen 30% In just one year. So far from 2025 the increases have been, depending on the type of product, between 11 and 18%, with increases especially pronounced in the last month.
The OCU estimates that “a dozen medium eggs now costs 25% more than a month ago.” Specifically, it calculates that the price of M Eggs M have risen 25.2% if they are compared to the data of April 2024. It also agrees that the rise has been more marked the last two weeks.
Looking for the causes. OCU is not limited only to Identify ups Price, which move between 25% of the M Eggs and 15.4% year -on -year of the L. have also investigated the causes of that increase, a sum of “several factors” among which includes the rise in prices at origin, the US crisis by avian flu, an increase in production controls and “collective psychosis.”
“The videos, information in networks … of individuals talking about the price increase and comparing what the eggs cost the eggs creates an environment in which we all expect that ‘crisis'”, Reason the organization of consumers, which warns about the possible “speculation.” With that backdrop in the US there are even those who have opted for rent chickens and self -abuse. In Spain, having its own domestic corral is not such a strange option, especially in the rural, but that: to avoid scares (and fines) it is convenient to know the law and the requirements it marks.
Images |Brooke Cagle (UNSPLASH) and JUSOTIL_1943 (Flickr)
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