Broiler chicks hatched in the United States in 2010 totaled 9,227,075,000, 1.2 percent more than the 9,116,802,000 chicks hatched in 2009, according to the Hatchery Production 2010 Summary report issued by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) late last week. For the 19 states on NASS’ weekly hatchery estimating program the year-over-year increase was 1.8 percent. With over one billion chicks each, Georgia, Alabama, and Arkansas, were the top three states and combined accounted for more than 40 percent of the U.S. total. On a percentage basis, Florida experienced the largest gain with a 24.6 percent increase in chicks hatched. Three states–Texas, Maryland, and Pennsylvania–reported fewer chicks hatched in 2010 when compared with 2009.
Broiler chicks hatched in selected states in 2009 and 2010 were as follows:
| Broiler Chicks Hatched In Selected States,2009 and 2010 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| State | 2009 | 2010 | Change |
| -1,000 chicks- | -1,000 chicks- | -percent- | |
| Georgia | 1,368,382 | 1,382,425 | 1.0 |
| Alabama | 1,271,867 | 1,304,132 | 2.5 |
| Arkansas | 1,030,732 | 1,044,356 | 1.3 |
| North Carolina | 805,888 | 840,501 | 4.3 |
| Mississippi | 792,056 | 834,019 | 5.3 |
| Texas | 691,610 | 685,270 | -0.9 |
| Maryland | 383,004 | 350,528 | -8.5 |
| Kentucky | 332,791 | 337,663 | 1.5 |
| Oklahoma | 296,453 | 298,401 | 0.7 |
| Virginia | 265,900 | 274,551 | 3.3 |
| South Carolina | 238,034 | 243,128 | 2.1 |
| Pennsylvania | 164,722 | 160,894 | -2.3 |
| Delaware | 150,212 | 163,120 | 8.6 |
| Louisiana | 138,738 | 149,469 | 7.7 |
| Florida | 45,939 | 57,225 | 24.6 |
| California, Missouri, Tennessee and West Virginia 1 | 831,528 | 844,886 | 1.6 |
| 19 States total 2 | 8,807,856 | 8,970,568 | 1.8 |
| Other States 1 | 308,946 | 306,507 | -0.8 |
| United States | 9,116,802 | 9,227,075 | 1.2 |
1 States in the weekly hatchery estimation program.
2 Not published separately to avoid disclosing individual operations.
Broiler chicks placed on feed for meat production in NASS’ 19-state weekly program for the 52 weeks ending January 1, 2011, totaled 8,809,308,000, 1.9 percent above the 8,641,289,000 placed for the 52 weeks ending January 2, 2010. On January 1 this year, there were 312 chicken hatcheries with a capacity of 894,807,000 eggs compared with 317 hatcheries with an egg capacity of 896,624,000 eggs on January 1, 2010, a 1.6-percent decline in the number of hatcheries and a 0.2-percent decrease in egg capacity. The South Central region of the United States had the most hatcheries on January 1 this year with 124 or almost 40 percent of the U.S. total number of hatcheries.
