Intended U.S. placements of broiler pullet chicks for the hatchery supply flock for May 2011 were 7,721,000, an 8-percent decrease from the 8,351,000 pullet chicks placed in May 2010, according to the “Chickens and Eggs” report issued this week by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The May pullet chicks combined with the previous eight months give a 7-to-15-month cumulative total of 64,283,000 hens in December 2011. The 64,283,000 cumulative potential pullet placements represent a 2 percent increase compared with the number of December 2010.
| U.S. Broiler-Type Hatchery Supply Flock | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pullet Chicks Hatched | Potential Placements, Cumulative 7-15 months earlier | |||||||||
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2010 | 2011 | ||||||
| –000– | -%-* | –000– | -%-* | –000– | -%-* | –000– | -%-* | –000– | -%-* | |
| January | 7,142 | 102 | 6,637 | 93 | 6,989 | 105 | 62,833 | 95 | 62,996 | 100 |
| February | 7,215 | 96 | 7,021 | 97 | 7,107 | 101 | 62,005 | 95 | 63,283 | 102 |
| March | 6,773 | 96 | 6,673 | 99 | 7,058 | 106 | 62,142 | 95 | 63,250 | 102 |
| April | 6,240 | 88 | 6,825 | 109 | 7,044 | 103 | 62,672 | 96 | 63,751 | 102 |
| May | 7,658 | 93 | 8,351 | 109 | 7,721 | 92 | 61,918 | 95 | 63,990 | 103 |
| June | 7,157 | 100 | 7,128 | 100 | 62,049 | 96 | 64,558 | 104 | ||
| July | 6,214 | 96 | 6,675 | 107 | 61,903 | 96 | 64,656 | 104 | ||
| August | 7,163 | 93 | 7,313 | 102 | 62,300 | 97 | 64,820 | 104 | ||
| September | 7,110 | 103 | 7,128 | 100 | 61,663 | 98 | 63,576 | 103 | ||
| October | 6,388 | 91 | 6,876 | 108 | 61,179 | 98 | 63,506 | 104 | ||
| November | 7,346 | 105 | 7,589 | 103 | 61,790 | 99 | 63,875 | 103 | ||
| December | 6,627 | 101 | 6,771 | 102 | 62,978 | 101 | 64,283 | 102 | ||
| Annual Total | 83,033 | 97 | 84,987 | 102 | **62,119 | 97 | **63,867 | 103 | ||
| Source: Chickens and Eggs, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service * Comparison with one year earlier. ** Annual Average | ||||||||||
Note: All generations of layers which 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.
