The total number of chickens on hand on December 1, 2017 (excluding commercial broilers) was 505 million birds, up 2 percent from last year.The total value of all chickens on December 1, 2017 was $2.13 billion, up 2 percent from December 1, 2016, according to USDA’s Chicken and Eggs Annual Summary. The average value decreased from $4.22 per bird on December 1, 2016, to $4.21 per bird on December 1, 2017.
United States Average Number of Layers Up 3 Percent: Layer numbers during 2017 averaged 376 million, up 3 percent from the year earlier. The annual average production per layer on hand in 2017 was 281 eggs, up 1 percent from 2016.
United States Egg Production up 4 percent: Egg production during the year ending November 30, 2017 totaled 106 billion eggs, up 4 percent from 2016. Table egg production, at 92.1 billion eggs, was up 4 percent from the previous year. Hatching egg production, at 13.6 billion eggs, was down 1 percent from 2016.
Click the link to view USDA’s Cold Storage Annual Summary.
