Intended U.S. placements of broiler pullet chicks for the hatchery supply flock for March 2012 were 6,728,000, a 5-percent decrease from the 7,058,000 pullet chicks placed in March 2011, according to the “Chickens and Eggs” report issued this week by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The March pullet chicks combined with the previous eight months give a 7-to-15-month cumulative total of 60,377,000 hens in October 2012. The 60,377,000 cumulative potential pullet placements represent a 5-percent decrease when compared with the number for October 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 2012 2010 2011 2012
–000– -%-* –000– -%-* –000– -%-* –000– -%-* –000– -%-* –000– -%-* –000– -%-*
January 7,142 102 6,637 93 6,557 99 6,673 102 62,833 95 62,996 100 64,111 102
February 7,215 96 7,021 97 7,284 104 7,025 96 62,005 95 63,283 102 63,679 101
March 6,773 96 6,673 99 7,058 106 6,728 95 62,142 95 63,250 102 63,323 100
April 6,240 88 6,825 109 7,044 103 62,672 96 63,751 102 63,209 99
May 7,658 93 8,351 109 7,721 92 61,918 95 63,990 103 62,941 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 61,927 96
August 7,163 93 7,313 102 7,233 99 62,300 97 64,388 104 61,556 96
September 7,110 103 7,128 100 6,657 93 61,663 98 63,321 103  60,860 96
October 6,388 91 6,876 108 6,289 91 61,179 98 63,251 103 60,377 95
November 7,346 105 7,589 103 6,890 91 61,790 99 63,620 103
December 6,627 101 6,771 102 6,438 95 62,978 101 64,028 102
Annual Total 83,033 97 84,987 102 82,826 98 **62,119 97 **63,757 103
Source: Chickens and Eggs NASS/USDA * Comparison with one year earlier. ** Annual Average

Note: All generations of layers that 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  “Chickens and Eggs,” NASS reported that the actual number of layers in the broiler-type hatching egg flock on April 1, 2012 was 52,121,000 hens, a 6-percent decrease from 55,698,000 hens on April 1, 2011.

In a related report, “The Hatchery Production 2011 Summary” from USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, on January 1, 2012 there were 302 chicken hatcheries with an incubator egg capacity of 894,010,000 eggs (10 fewer hatcheries than on January 1, 2011).  Incubator egg capacity on January 1, 2011 was 910,341,000 eggs.  Thus, the January 1, 2012 capacity was 1.8 percent less than year earlier.

Regionally, on a year-to-year comparison, six hatcheries ceased operations in the North Atlantic (currently 27), East North Central was unchanged at 23 hatcheries, West North Central added three hatcheries (currently 33), South Atlantic added one hatchery (currently 78), South Atlantic had seven less hatcheries (currently 117), and the West has one less hatchery (currently 24).