Intended U.S. placements of broiler pullet chicks for the hatchery supply flock for November 2011 were 6,890,000, a 9-percent decrease from the 7,589,000 pullet chicks placed in November 2010, according to the “Chickens and Eggs” report issued last month by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. 
The November pullet chicks combined with the previous eight months give a 7-to-15-month cumulative total of 62,547,000 hens in June 2012. The 62,547,000 cumulative potential pullet placements represent a 3-percent decrease when compared with the number for June 2011.
| U.S. Broiler-Type Hatchery Supply Flock Pullet Chicks Hatched and Cumulative Potential Placements |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 63,464 | 100 |
| May | 7,658 | 93 | 8,351 | 109 | 7,721 | 92 | 61,918 | 95 | 63,990 | 103 | 62,764 | 98 |
| June | 7,157 | 100 | 7,128 | 100 | 7,211 | 101 | 62,049 | 96 | 64,558 | 104 | 62,547 | 97 |
| 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 | 6,657 | 93 | 61,663 | 98 | 63,576 | 103 | ||
| October | 6,388 | 91 | 6,876 | 108 | 6,289 | 91 | 61,179 | 98 | 63,506 | 104 | ||
| November | 7,346 | 105 | 7,589 | 103 | 6,890 | 91 | 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.
Also, in the current issue of “Chicken and Eggs”, NASS reported that the actual number of layers in the broiler-type hatching egg flock on December 1, 2011 was 50,124,000 hens, a 7 percent decrease from 53,722,000 hens on December 1, 2010.
