January 24, 2013

During December 2012, egg production in the US climbed 2% to 8.07 billion.

According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) of the USDA, production included 7.03 billion table eggs and 1.04 billion hatching eggs, of which 969 million were broiler-type and 71 million were egg-type. The total number of layers during December 2012 increased 2% to an average of 344 million. December egg production per 100 layers was flat at 2,346 eggs.

All layers on January 1, 2013 totalled 343 million, up 1% from 2011, according to NASS. The 343 million layers consisted of 288 million layers producing table or market type eggs, 51.2 million layers producing broiler-type hatching eggs and 2.97 million layers producing egg-type hatching eggs. Rate of lay per day on January 1, 2013 declined 1% to an average of 75.1 eggs per 100 layers.

Egg-type chicks hatched during December 2012 eased 5% to total 37.1 million compared to December 2011. Eggs in incubators totalled 37.5 million on January 1, 2013, down 3% from a year ago, according to NASS.

Domestic placements of egg-type pullet chicks for future hatchery supply flocks by leading breeders dropped 31% to 191,000 during December 2012. Broiler-type chicks hatched during December 2012 totalled 763 million, up 1% from December 2011. Eggs in incubators declined 4% to 611,000,000 on January 1, 2013.

Leading breeders placed 6.63 million broiler-type pullet chicks for future domestic hatchery supply flocks during December 2012, up 3% from December 2011, NASS said.