Intended U.S. placements of broiler pullet chicks for the hatchery supply flock for September 2012 were 6,676,000, essentially unchanged from the 6,657,000 pullet chicks placed in September 2011, according to the “Chickens and Eggs” report issued this week by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The September pullet chicks combined with the previous eight months gives a 7-to-15-month cumulative total of 61,334,000 hens in April 2013. The 61,334,000-cumulative-potential-pullet placements represent a 3-percent decrease when compared with the number for April 2012.
U.S. Broiler-Type Hatchery Supply Flock Pullet Chicks Hatched and Cumulative Potential Placements | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pullet Chicks Hatched | Potential Placements, Cumulative 7-15 months earlier | |||||||||||
2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | |||||||
–000– | -%-* | –000– | -%-* | –000– | -%-* | –000– | -%-* | –000– | -%-* | -000- | -%- | |
January | 6,637 | 93 | 6,557 | 99 | 6,673 | 102 | 62,996 | 100 | 64,111 | 102 | 60,864 | 95 |
February | 7,021 | 97 | 7,284 | 104 | 7,025 | 96 | 63,283 | 102 | 63,679 | 101 | 60,646 | 95 |
March | 6,673 | 99 | 7,058 | 106 | 6,753 | 96 | 63,250 | 102 | 63,323 | 100 | 60,094 | 95 |
April | 6,825 | 109 | 7,044 | 103 | 6,524 | 93 | 63,751 | 102 | 63,209 | 99 | 61,334 | 97 |
May | 8,351 | 109 | 7,721 | 92 | 7,472 | 97 | 63,990 | 103 | 62,941 | 98 | ||
June | 7,128 | 100 | 7,211 | 101 | 6,800 | 94 | 64,558 | 104 | 62,547 | 97 | ||
July | 6,675 | 107 | 6,444 | 97 | 6,071 | 94 | 64,656 | 104 | 61,927 | 96 | ||
August | 7,313 | 102 | 7,233 | 99 | 7,338 | 101 | 64,388 | 104 | 61,556 | 96 | ||
September | 7,128 | 100 | 6,657 | 93 | 6,676 | 100 | 63,321 | 103 | 60,860 | 96 | ||
October | 6,876 | 108 | 6,289 | 91 | 63,251 | 103 | 60,402 | 95 | ||||
November | 7,589 | 103 | 6,890 | 91 | 63,620 | 103 | 60,482 | 95 | ||||
December | 6,771 | 102 | 6,438 | 95 | 64,028 | 102 | 60,721 | 95 | ||||
Annual Total | 84,987 | 102 | 82,826 | 98 | **63,757 | 103 | 62,143 | 97 | ||||
Source: Chickens and Eggs NASS/USDA * Comparison with one year earlier. ** Annual Average |
Note: All generations of layers that would lay eggs to supply a hatchery are included: parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, pedigree, foundation, and similar. Any pullet chicks used for research purposes, vaccine production, and specific-pathogen-free layers that are in broiler-type hatchery supply flocks are also included in the data.
Also, in the current issue of “Chickens and Eggs,” NASS reported that the actual number of layers in the broiler-type hatching egg flock on October 1, 2012 was 49,292,000 hens, a 3-percent decrease from 51,077,000 hens on October 1, 2011.