The number of broiler-type eggs set was up 1 percent from a year ago, but the broiler-type chicks placed were down 1 percent, according to the USDA’s broiler hatchery report, released on March 6.
Commercial hatcheries in the USDA’s 19-state weekly program set 200 million eggs in incubators during the week ending March 2, up 1 percent from the eggs set the corresponding week a year earlier. Average hatchability for chicks hatched during the week was 84 percent.
Broiler growers in the 19-state weekly program placed 162 million chicks for meat production during the week ending March 2. Placements were down 1 percent from the comparable week a year earlier. Cumulative placements from December 30, 2012 through March 2, for the 19-state total were 1.47 billion, up 1 percent from the same period a year earlier.
