Broiler-type chicks hatched in the United States during January 2012 totaled 8,930,889,000, 1.4 percent under the 9,054,715,000 chicks hatched in 2011 and 2.4 percent below the 9,276,240,000 chicks hatched in 2010, according to hatchery “Production 2012 Summary” issued this week from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Last year the 19 states in NASS’ weekly hatchery estimating program hatched 8,600,331,000 chicks or 96.3 percent of the U.S. total. The comparable shares for 2010 and 2011 were 96.7 percent and 96.6 percent, respectively.
Topping the states with the most chicks hatched in 2012 were Georgia with 1,403,444,000 chicks and Alabama with 1,224,431,000 chicks. Of the 16 states individually listed, only four individually listed states hatched more chicks in 2012 than in 2011. Louisiana’s increase of 1.5 percent was the most of any state. Data for California, Tennessee, and Virginia were combined to avoid possible disclosure of company operations. For these three combined states, 471,775,000 chicks were hatched in 2012, 3.9 percent less than the 490,707,000 chicks hatched in 2011.
Broiler-type chicks hatched in 2011 and 2012 were as follows:
| Broiler Chicks Hatched In Selected States, 2011 and 2012 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| State | 2011 | 2012 | Change |
| -1,000 chicks- | -1,000 chicks- | -percent- | |
| Georgia | 1,412,278 | 1,403,444 | -0.6 |
| Alabama | 1,255,278 | 1,224,431 | -2.5 |
| Arkansas | 963,668 | 918,677 | -4.7 |
| North Carolina | 860,120 | 871,254 | 1.3 |
| Mississippi | 802,844 | 779,557 | -2.9 |
| Texas | 649,204 | 638,143 | -1.7 |
| Missouri | 341,963 | 345,986 | 1.2 |
| Kentucky | 322,495 | 329,218 | 2.1 |
| Maryland | 328,342 | 319,121 | -2.8 |
| Oklahoma | 294,883 | 293,582 | -0.4 |
| Virginia | 266,970 | 268,399 | 0.5 |
| South Carolina | 229,125 | 224,531 | -2.0 |
| Pennsylvania | 165,777 | 161,370 | -2.7 |
| Louisiana | 147,041 | 149,295 | 1.5 |
| Delaware | 148,978 | 148,974 | 0.0 |
| Florida | 56,440 | 52,574 | -6.8 |
| California, Tennessee, and West Virginia 2 |
490,707 | 471,775 | -3.9 |
| Other States | 308,126 | 330,558 | 7.3 |
| 19 States total 1 | 8,746,589 | 8,600,331 | -1.7 |
| United States 2012 | 9,054,715 | 8,930,889 | -1.4 |
| United States 2011 | 9,276,240 | 9,054,715 | -2.4 |
On January 1, 2013 there were 296 hatcheries with an incubator capacity of 905,408,000 eggs compared with 303 hatcheries with a capacity of 901,188,000, a 2.3 percent decrease in the number of hatcheries but a 0.5 percent increase in incubator capacity.
