PURPOSE

The Broiler Hatchery survey provides estimates of number of eggs placed into hatcheries to be used for broiler production and the number of chicks hatched and placed into feeding operations.

COVERAGE

Hatchery information is collected from all hatcheries producing broiler type chicks whether for sale, for their own use in integrated operations (whether or not transactions are for cash), or for hatchery supply flocks.

All known hatcheries hatching eggs for broiler production are contacted for information on a weekly basis in 19 states. In May 2001, the program expanded from 15 to 19 states. The original 15 states are: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. The four states added are: Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Eleven additional states are surveyed as part of the monthly Chicken and Egg survey. All states are surveyed in December.

CONTENT

The Chicken Hatchery survey includes counts of eggs set in incubators, chicks hatched, chick placements into feeding operations, and hatchery capacity. Chicks hatched for research purposes are included, while research and pharmaceutical use of unhatched eggs and embryos are not included.

FREQUENCY

Broiler hatcheries are surveyed weekly in the 19 major producing states and monthly in 11 additional states. Hatcheries producing chicks for future egg production are surveyed monthly.

METHODS

NASS maintains a list of chicken hatcheries. Each week, approximately 330 operations receive a questionnaire referring to the previous week and asked to respond by Wednesday. Those that do not respond within a specified time period are phoned. Imputation methods are employed for operations not reporting using historical data and current data relationships from similar size operations. Reports received too late to be summarized for the current week are still processed for the next week and revised estimates may be published based on these data. The reference period is the entire week ending on Saturday.

PRODUCTS

The Broiler Hatchery report is released each Wednesday. Estimates of the number of broiler eggs set in incubators and broiler chicks placed for meat production are provided by state and a 19-state total. Six weeks of estimates are included in each report. The monthly Chicken and Eggs report contains egg production for major producing states, all other states total, and the U.S.

USES

The primary use of the weekly reports are to forecast future supplies of poultry meat and related prices. Producers and processors use these data for marketing and business decisions. Trade organizations, economists, and other analysts use the data to monitor the health of the industry and assess the industry’s contribution to the agricultural sector.

SPECIAL FEATURES

RELATED PROGRAMS

Chicken and Eggs
Poultry Slaughter
Poultry Production and Value Summary