Supermarket shelves are bare of eggs while others are limiting the number of cartons customers can buy during a drop in supply.
At a Pak'NSave in Christchurch, customers were only allowed two cartons each, while shelves were empty at both New World and Countdown in Levin.
A ban on battery caged hens, announced back in 2012, comes into effect on Saturday and over the past few years the deadline has caused turmoil in the industry.
Egg Producers Federation executive director Michael Brooks said more than 75 percent of chicken farmers have had to change their farming methods or their career because of the ban.
the bird of gains