Broiler Hatchery ISSN: 1949-1840 Released October 31, 2018, 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 Slightly Hatcheries in the United States weekly program set 219 million eggs in incubators during the week ending October 27, 2018, down slightly from a year ago. Average hatchability for chicks hatched during the week in the United States was 82.6 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 Slightly Broiler growers in the United States weekly program placed 174 million chicks for meat production during the week ending October 27, 2018, down slightly from a year ago. Cumulative placements from the week ending January 6, 2018 through October 27, 2018 for the United States were 7.85 billion. Cumulative placements were up 1 percent from the same period a year earlier. Broiler-Type Eggs Set - Selected States and United States: 2018 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ : Week ending State :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- :September 22,:September 29,: October 6, : October 13, : October 20, : October 27, : 2018 : 2018 : 2018 : 2018 : 2018 : 2018 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ : 1,000 eggs : Alabama ......................: 29,641 27,720 29,199 29,854 29,410 29,467 Arkansas .....................: 24,286 24,198 23,193 22,770 21,289 23,340 Delaware .....................: 4,609 4,732 4,732 4,790 4,738 4,667 Florida ......................: 1,100 1,100 1,100 1,100 1,105 1,100 Georgia ......................: 34,653 33,037 34,083 33,428 31,975 32,824 Kentucky .....................: 7,260 7,566 7,524 7,081 6,910 6,290 Louisiana ....................: 3,225 3,455 3,313 3,634 3,741 3,833 Maryland .....................: 7,923 8,200 7,682 7,741 7,353 7,979 Mississippi ..................: 18,270 17,004 17,605 16,672 17,963 18,454 Missouri .....................: 8,331 7,114 8,641 8,001 8,183 8,222 : North Carolina ...............: 21,261 19,718 19,117 19,976 20,608 22,032 Oklahoma .....................: 7,446 7,799 7,632 7,190 7,618 7,861 Pennsylvania .................: 5,145 5,438 5,147 5,708 5,571 5,314 South Carolina ...............: 5,972 5,670 5,727 5,598 5,890 5,483 Texas ........................: 15,429 14,877 14,596 15,331 15,872 15,834 Virginia .....................: 6,396 6,255 6,116 6,270 5,817 6,150 California, Tennessee, : and West Virginia ...........: 11,005 11,186 11,677 11,559 10,560 11,236 : Other States .................: 8,730 9,030 9,338 9,378 9,154 8,924 : United States ................: 220,682 214,099 216,422 216,081 213,757 219,010 Percent of previous year .....: 100 100 100 100 99 100 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Broiler-Type Chicks Placed - Selected States and United States: 2018 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ : Week ending State :----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- :September 22,:September 29,: October 6, : October 13, : October 20, : October 27, : 2018 : 2018 : 2018 : 2018 : 2018 : 2018 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ : 1,000 chicks : Alabama ......................: 22,654 22,539 22,988 22,668 22,135 22,526 Arkansas .....................: 21,311 19,254 21,153 21,752 21,596 22,292 Delaware .....................: 5,055 5,702 5,515 5,351 4,695 5,109 Florida ......................: 588 631 338 704 694 741 Georgia ......................: 26,419 27,531 24,757 27,478 24,790 26,985 Kentucky .....................: 6,066 5,684 5,170 5,883 6,010 5,953 Louisiana ....................: 3,099 3,313 3,178 2,827 2,875 2,856 Maryland .....................: 5,658 5,294 5,053 5,810 6,072 5,064 Mississippi ..................: 14,651 13,887 14,169 14,961 13,800 14,340 Missouri .....................: 5,923 5,802 5,068 6,940 5,580 5,932 : North Carolina ...............: 17,466 16,351 15,923 16,365 15,472 15,411 Oklahoma .....................: 5,307 4,740 4,155 3,754 4,349 3,374 Pennsylvania .................: 4,105 4,109 3,966 3,778 4,045 3,878 South Carolina ...............: 4,451 4,739 5,096 4,959 4,862 4,152 Texas ........................: 11,388 12,865 12,494 12,593 12,206 12,236 Virginia .....................: 5,661 5,202 4,644 5,472 5,833 5,604 California, Tennessee, : and West Virginia ...........: 10,786 9,463 9,463 8,863 10,103 10,357 : Other States .................: 7,564 7,274 7,361 6,989 7,043 7,225 : United States ................: 178,152 174,380 170,491 177,147 172,160 174,035 Percent of previous year .....: 100 100 98 99 100 100 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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@nass.usda.gov Travis Averill, Chief, Livestock Branch .......................................... (202) 720-3570 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, Egg Products, Mink, Census of Aquaculture .. (202) 720-8784 Fatema Haque - Broiler Hatchery, Chicken Hatchery ............................. (202) 720-3244 Kim Linonis - Layers, Eggs .................................................... (202) 690-3676 Adam Peters - Turkey Hatchery, Turkeys Raised ................................. (202) 690-3237 Erica Sadler - Cost of Pollination, Honey, Honey Bee Colonies ................. (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. 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