Intended U.S. placements of broiler pullet chicks for the hatchery supply flock for August 2011 were 7,233,000, a 1-percent decrease from the 7,313,000 pullet chicks placed in August 2010, according to the “Chicken and Eggs” report issued yesterday by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.  The August pullet chicks combined with the previous eight months give a 7-to-15-month cumulative total of 63,578,000 hens in March 2012.  The 63,578,000 cumulative potential pullet placements represents a 1-percent increase compared with the number of March 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 64,366 102
February 7,215 96 7,021 97 7,107 101 62,005 95 63,283 102 63,934 101
March 6,773 96 6,673 99 7,058 106 62,142 95 63,250 102 63,578 101
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 7,211 101 62,049 96 64,558 104
July 6,214 96 6,675 107 6,444 97 61,903 96 64,656 104
August 7,163 93 7,313 102 7,233 99 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.