Intended U.S. placements of broiler pullet chicks for the hatchery supply flock for July 2012 were 6,071,000, a 6-percent decrease from the 6,444,000 pullet chicks placed in July 2011, according to the “Chickens and Eggs” report issued last week by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The July pullet chicks combined with the previous eight months gives a 7-to-15-month cumulative total of 60,646,000 hens in February 2013. The 60,646,000-cumulative-potential-pullet placements represent a 5-percent decrease when compared with the number for February 2012.
| U.S. Broiler-Type Hatchery Supply Flock Pullet Chicks Hatched and Cumulative Potential Placements | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pullet Chicks Hatched | Potential Placements, Cumulative 7-15 months earlier | |||||||||||
| 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | |||||||
| –000– | -%-* | –000– | -%-* | –000– | -%-* | –000– | -%-* | –000– | -%-* | -000- | -%- | |
| January | 6,637 | 93 | 6,557 | 99 | 6,673 | 102 | 62,996 | 100 | 64,111 | 102 | 60,864 | 95 |
| February | 7,021 | 97 | 7,284 | 104 | 7,025 | 96 | 63,283 | 102 | 63,679 | 101 | 60,646 | 95 |
| March | 6,673 | 99 | 7,058 | 106 | 6,753 | 96 | 63,250 | 102 | 63,323 | 100 | ||
| April | 6,825 | 109 | 7,044 | 103 | 6,524 | 93 | 63,751 | 102 | 63,209 | 99 | ||
| May | 8,351 | 109 | 7,721 | 92 | 7,472 | 97 | 63,990 | 103 | 62,941 | 98 | ||
| June | 7,128 | 100 | 7,211 | 101 | 6,800 | 94 | 64,558 | 104 | 62,547 | 97 | ||
| July | 6,675 | 107 | 6,444 | 97 | 6,071 | 94 | 64,656 | 104 | 61,927 | 96 | ||
| August | 7,313 | 102 | 7,233 | 99 | 64,388 | 104 | 61,556 | 96 | ||||
| September | 7,128 | 100 | 6,657 | 93 | 63,321 | 103 | 60,860 | 96 | ||||
| October | 6,876 | 108 | 6,289 | 91 | 63,251 | 103 | 60,402 | 95 | ||||
| November | 7,589 | 103 | 6,890 | 91 | 63,620 | 103 | 60,482 | 95 | ||||
| December | 6,771 | 102 | 6,438 | 95 | 64,028 | 102 | 60,721 | 95 | ||||
| Annual Total | 84,987 | 102 | 82,826 | 98 | **63,757 | 103 | 62,143 | 97 | ||||
| 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 August 1, 2012 was 50,598,000 hens, a 6-percent decrease from 53,623,000 hens on August 1, 2011.
