Poultry entrepreneurs have even warned that the prices would further shoot up soon, culminating to a record high with supplies showing no sign of improvement.

Fearing possible transmission of the fatal avian influenza, the government put a stop in the import of parent chicks from India, Bangladesh, USA, Denmark and of late from Germany.

"We were importing chicks from Australia but it could not be continued due to inconvenience in flight schedules. The chicks are vulnerable if undelivered within a given time," said Dr Til Chandra Bhattarai, managing director of Pancharatna Poultry Group, one of the largest poultry farms in the country.

"For last couple of months, we have been seeing a gradual decline in the number of parent chicks," Bhattarai, who is also the immediate past president of Nepal Poultry Entrepreneurs Forum (NPEF) told the Post and added that the market is seeing a 12-percent deficit in supplies.

According to him, the stock of parent population of broiler chicken stands at only 280,000, down from around 400,000 that is necessary to fulfill the current demand.

Likewise, the population of the egg laying chicken is also running low. "We need at least 40,000 chicks in the farms but right now there are only around 32,000," Bhattarai said, adding that the situation is going to further worsen as import of chicks has come to a standstill. And, the possibility of immediately importing chicks is almost nil.