Broiler Hatchery ISSN: 1949-1840 Released April 29, 2020, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Broiler-Type Eggs Set in the United States Down 7 Percent Hatcheries in the United States weekly program set 218 million eggs in incubators during the week ending April 25, 2020, down 7 percent from a year ago. Average hatchability for chicks hatched during the week in the United States was 78.3 percent. Average hatchability is calculated by dividing chicks hatched during the week by eggs set three weeks earlier. Broiler-Type Chicks Placed in the United States Down 8 Percent Broiler growers in the United States weekly program placed 172 million chicks for meat production during the week ending April 25, 2020, down 8 percent from a year ago. Cumulative placements from the week ending January 4, 2020 through April 25, 2020 for the United States were 3.19 billion. Cumulative placements were up 2 percent from the same period a year earlier. Broiler-Type Eggs Set - Selected States and United States: 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ : Week ending State :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : March 21, : March 28, : April 4, : April 11, : April 18, : April 25, : 2020 : 2020 : 2020 : 2020 : 2020 : 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ : 1,000 eggs : Alabama ......................: 33,838 34,043 32,825 30,441 30,821 30,619 Arkansas .....................: 24,368 23,081 21,487 21,427 22,255 21,180 Delaware .....................: 5,362 5,465 4,642 3,841 4,477 4,525 Florida ......................: 1,194 1,177 1,131 1,167 1,163 1,069 Georgia ......................: 35,080 35,250 34,232 33,053 33,080 33,211 Kentucky .....................: 7,749 7,497 7,911 7,620 7,214 7,065 Louisiana ....................: 3,865 3,802 3,167 3,485 3,470 2,971 Maryland .....................: 8,170 8,198 7,886 8,086 7,838 8,059 Mississippi ..................: 18,260 18,260 17,350 16,603 16,921 16,877 Missouri .....................: 8,952 9,003 8,388 8,309 8,368 8,552 : North Carolina ...............: 24,712 24,372 21,816 22,593 22,568 22,432 Oklahoma .....................: 7,196 7,309 6,605 6,519 6,698 6,911 Pennsylvania .................: 6,103 6,325 6,197 6,106 6,094 6,262 South Carolina ...............: 5,804 5,834 5,647 5,720 5,267 5,238 Texas ........................: 17,915 18,014 17,473 16,563 17,031 15,167 Virginia .....................: 6,485 5,672 5,762 5,477 4,889 4,962 California, Tennessee, : and West Virginia ...........: 12,760 13,180 12,649 12,280 12,237 11,500 : Other States .................: 11,591 11,834 10,644 10,437 11,289 10,980 : United States ................: 239,404 238,316 225,812 219,727 221,680 217,580 Percent of previous year .....: 104 102 98 94 94 93 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Broiler-Type Chicks Placed - Selected States and United States: 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ : Week ending State :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : March 21, : March 28, : April 4, : April 11, : April 18, : April 25, : 2020 : 2020 : 2020 : 2020 : 2020 : 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ : 1,000 chicks : Alabama ......................: 24,923 25,586 23,735 22,117 23,345 21,671 Arkansas .....................: 22,029 22,280 21,211 21,224 20,140 19,806 Delaware .....................: 6,147 4,805 4,330 5,368 5,155 5,481 Florida ......................: 1,326 1,336 1,306 1,334 1,230 1,293 Georgia ......................: 28,120 26,598 26,258 27,366 25,207 25,247 Kentucky .....................: 5,913 5,601 6,482 5,949 5,890 5,964 Louisiana ....................: 3,234 3,353 3,121 2,575 2,404 2,018 Maryland .....................: 5,463 6,127 4,458 3,353 5,634 3,824 Mississippi ..................: 15,182 15,191 14,386 14,179 14,296 14,396 Missouri .....................: 5,656 6,442 5,596 5,590 5,472 4,806 : North Carolina ...............: 20,901 20,264 20,478 19,387 19,534 16,908 Oklahoma .....................: 4,093 3,499 4,281 3,327 4,351 4,507 Pennsylvania .................: 4,524 4,472 4,452 4,255 4,470 4,442 South Carolina ...............: 4,475 4,920 5,638 4,031 3,445 4,097 Texas ........................: 14,089 13,930 14,006 14,007 13,805 13,597 Virginia .....................: 5,302 5,952 4,964 4,731 4,384 4,705 California, Tennessee, : and West Virginia ...........: 11,369 11,520 11,425 10,981 10,772 11,068 : Other States .................: 9,002 8,812 8,782 7,765 8,831 8,161 : United States ................: 191,748 190,688 184,909 177,539 178,365 171,991 Percent of previous year .....: 104 102 99 95 95 92 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Statistical Methodology Survey Procedures: Data for broiler hatchery estimates are collected weekly from all broiler-type hatcheries that hatch at least one million chicks a year. Individual NASS regional field offices maintain a list of all known hatcheries and update their lists on a continual basis. All hatcheries that meet the minimum size criteria are given adequate time to respond to the weekly survey. Those that do not respond are contacted by telephone. The weekly United States total for chicks placed includes states receiving greater than 500,000 chicks annually for grow-out. Estimating Procedures: All data are analyzed for unusual values. Data from each operation are compared to their own past operating profile and to trends from similar operations. Data for missing operations are estimated based on similar operations or historical data. NASS regional field offices prepare these estimates by using a combination of survey indications and historic trends. Individual State estimates are reviewed by the Agricultural Statistics Board for reasonableness. Revision Policy: Revisions are generally the result of late or corrected data. Revisions made to the previous five-week's data during the current week are published in this report. Final estimates are published in the annual Hatchery Production Summary released in April. Reliability: Estimates are subject to errors such as omission, duplication, and mistakes in reporting, recording, and processing the data. While these errors cannot be measured directly, they are minimized through strict quality controls in the data collection process and a careful review of all reported data for consistency and reasonableness. Information Contacts Listed below are the commodity specialists in the Livestock Branch of the National Agricultural Statistics Service to contact for additional information. E-mail inquiries may be sent to nass@usda.gov Travis Averill, Chief, Livestock Branch ..................................... (202) 692-0069 Tony Dorn, Head, Poultry and Specialty Commodities Section .................. (202) 690-3223 Holly Brenize - Poultry Slaughter......................................... (202) 720-0585 Alissa Cowell-Mytar - Cold Storage, Capacity of Refrigerated Warehouses .. (202) 720-4751 Liana Cuffman - Catfish and Trout, Mink, Census of Aquaculture ........... (202) 720-8784 Fatema Haque - Turkey Hatchery, Turkeys Raised ........................... (202) 690-3244 Kim Linonis - Layers, Eggs, Egg Products ................................. (202) 690-3676 Adam Peters - Honey, Honey Bee Colonies .................................. (202) 690-4870 Takiyah Walker - Broiler Hatchery, Chicken Hatchery ...................... (202) 720-6147 Access to NASS Reports For your convenience, you may access NASS reports and products the following ways: All reports are available electronically, at no cost, on the NASS web site: www.nass.usda.gov Both national and state specific reports are available via a free e- mail subscription. To set-up this free subscription, visit www.nass.usda.gov and click on "National" or "State" in upper right corner above "search" box to create an account and select the reports you would like to receive. Cornell's Mann Library has launched a new website housing NASS's and other agency's archived reports. The new website, https://usda.library.cornell.edu. All email subscriptions containing reports will be sent from the new website, https://usda.library.cornell.edu. To continue receiving the reports via e-mail, you will have to go to the new website, create a new account and re-subscribe to the reports. If you need instructions to set up an account or subscribe, they are located at: https://usda.library.cornell.edu/help. You should whitelist notifications@usda-esmis.library.cornell.edu in your email client to avoid the emails going into spam/junk folders. For more information on NASS surveys and reports, call the NASS Agricultural Statistics Hotline at (800) 727-9540, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, or e-mail: nass@usda.gov. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination against its customers, employees, and applicants for employment on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, sex, gender identity, religion, reprisal, and where applicable, political beliefs, marital status, familial or parental status, sexual orientation, or all or part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program, or protected genetic information in employment or in any program or activity conducted or funded by the Department. (Not all prohibited bases will apply to all programs and/or employment activities.) If you wish to file a Civil Rights program complaint of discrimination, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form (PDF), found online at www.ascr.usda.gov/filing-program-discrimination-complaint-usda-customer, or at any USDA office, or call (866) 632-9992 to request the form. You may also write a letter containing all of the information requested in the form. Send your completed complaint form or letter to us by mail at U.S. Department of Agriculture, Director, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, by fax (202) 690-7442 or email at program.intake@usda.gov.