Intended U.S. placements of broiler pullet chicks for the hatchery supply flock for October 2012 were 6,218,000, a 1-percent decrease from the 6,289,000 pullet chicks placed in October 2011, according to the “Chickens and Eggs” report issued last week by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The October pullet chicks combined with the previous eight months gives a 7-to-15-month cumulative total of 60,879,000 hens in May 2013. The 60,879,000-cumulative-potential-pullet placements represent a 3-percent decrease when compared with the number for May 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 60,879 97
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 6,218 99 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 November 1, 2012 was 49,063,000 hens, a 3-percent decrease from 50,594,000 hens on November 1, 2011.