Broiler (young meat chicken) production last year totaled 43.905 billion pounds, ready-to-cook weight 3.1 percent above the 42.601 billion pounds certified wholesome in 2018, according to USDA’s Poultry Slaughter 2019 Summary, National Agricultural Statistics Service, February 28, 2020. The comparable liveweight also increased 3.1 percent: 58.287 billion pounds and 56.542 billion pounds in 2019 and 2018, respectively.
Broiler slaughter were 9.224 billion in 2019, an increase of 2.1 percent over the 9.035 billion during the previous year. Average live weight gain was 0.6 pounds from 6.26 pounds in 2018 to 6.32 pounds in 2019, almost 1.0 percent heavier. Ante-mortem condemnations were somewhat comparable for the two years: 0.23 percent in 2018 and 0.22 percent in 2019 measured as a percentage of liveweight federally inspected. Post-mortem condemnations registered an improvement with a decline from 0.75 percent in 2018 to 0.65 percent in 2019, measured as a percentage of pounds certified plus post-mortem condemnations.
Total pounds certified in 2018 and 2019 by state were as follows:
| STATE | 2018 | 2019 | CHANGE |
| —- billion pounds, r.t.c. —— | — percent —- | ||
| Georgia | 5.756 | 5.919 | 2.8 |
| North Carolina | 4.916 | 5.490 | 11.7 |
| Arkansas | 4.998 | 5.133 | 2.7 |
| Alabama | 4.595 | 4.800 | 4.5 |
| Mississippi | 3.553 | 3.487 | -1.9 |
| Texas | 3.252 | 3.396 | 4.4 |
| Delaware | 2.185 | 2.181 | -0.2 |
| South Carolina | 1.688 | 1.671 | -1.0 |
| Missouri | 1.597 | 1.643 | 2.9 |
| Virginia | 1.435 | 1.433 | -0.1 |
| Kentucky | 1.429 | 1.394 | -2.4 |
| Tennessee | 1.183 | 1.210 | 2.3 |
| California | 1.205 | 1.191 | -1.2 |
| Louisiana | 0.874 | 0.929 | 6.3 |
| Oklahoma | 0.761 | 0.772 | 1.4 |
| Maryland | 0.578 | 0.620 | 7.3 |
| Pennsylvania | 0.476 | 0.464 | -2.5 |
| Indiana | 0.226 | 0.247 | 9.3 |
| New York | 0.082 | 0.084 | 2.4 |
| Iowa | 0.082 | 0.072 | -12.2 |
| New Jersey | 0.005 | 0.005 | 0 |
| Other States 1/ | 1.725 | 1.764 | 2.3 |
| Total United States | 42.601 | 43.903 | 3.1 |
The top three states in production (Georgia, North Carolina, and Arkansas) accounted for 48.6 percent of the U.S. total in 2019. North Carolina recorded the largest percentage increase with 11.7 percent. Twelve states had increased production in 2019 while eight states declined and one state’s production was unchanged.
USDA’s Poultry Slaughter 2019 Summary February 2020 report can be viewed here.
1/ Young chickens are slaughtered in 38 states. The data table has 21 states. USDA does not publish the other states to avoid individual disclosures.
