Thousands of eggs await cleaning, sorting and packaging at Sauders Amish Country Eggs processing plant in Winesburg, Ohio. (Photo by Chris Stephens)

Eggs have been so expensive that hoodlums thought twice about throwing them.

OK. That's a joke.

But they've been high, peaking nationally in March above $2.20 per dozen at grocery stores. And while they've since come down, they're still well above the low, low egg prices consumers enjoyed a couple of years ago.

Higher prices for oil and natural gas have a lot to do with it. They increase the cost of chicken feed and boost utility bills throughout the egg-production process.

The odyssey of the humble egg — from hen to household — is a graphic example of how soaring energy costs have led to escalating prices up and down the grocery aisle. At some point, increased costs pass through to the consumer. Exactly how and when is convoluted because supply and demand ultimately determine how much egg producers can get for their goods.