USDA’s January Chickens & Eggs report indicated that there had been a general decrease in the hatching and placing of broiler-related chicks and breeders.
Broiler-type chicks hatched during December 2023 totaled 849 million, down one percent from December 2022.
Eggs in incubators totaled 718 million on January 1, 2024, down slightly from a year ago. Leading breeders placed 8.75 million broiler-type pullet chicks for future domestic hatchery supply flocks during December 2023, down four percent from December 2022.
United States egg production totaled 9.45 billion during December 2023. Production included 8.14 billion table eggs and 1.31 billion hatching eggs, of which 1.21 billion were broiler-type and 97.0 million were egg-type. The total number of layers during December 2023 averaged 384 million, up two percent from last year.
All layers in the United States on January 1, 2024, totaled 379 million, up one percent from last year. The 379 million layers consisted of 312 million layers producing table or market-type eggs, 63.6 million layers producing broiler-type hatching eggs, and 3.83 million layers producing egg-type hatching eggs. The rate of lay per day on January 1, 2024, averaged 79.3 eggs per 100 layers, up two percent from January 1, 2023.
The full report can be found here.
