Intended U.S. placements of broiler pullet chicks for the hatchery supply flock for June 2011 were 7,066,000, a 1-percent decrease from the 7,128,000 pullet chicks placed in June 2010, according to the “Chickens and Eggs” report issued last week by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.  The June pullet chicks combined with the previous eight months give a 7-to-15-month cumulative total of 64,221,000 hens in January 2012.  The 64,221,000 cumulative potential pullet placements represent a 2 percent increase compared with the number of  January 2011.

 U.S. Broiler-Type Hatchery Supply Flock
Pullet Chicks Hatched and Cumulative Potential Placements
 Pullet Chicks Hatched  Potential Placements, Cumulative 7-15 months earlier
2009 2010 2011 2010 2011 2012
–000– -%-* –000– -%-* –000– -%-* –000– -%-* –000– -%-* –000– -%-*
 January  7,142  102  6,637  93  6,989  105  62,833  95  62,996  100  64,221  102
 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  7,066  99  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  **63,879  103
 Source: Chickens and Eggs NASS/USDA * 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.