November 25, 2004

Egg Production in Hawaii Up Marginally

The number of active laying hens on Hawaii farms has returned to above the half-million mark. For the first nine months of this year, their output is 2 percent higher than the same period last year.

Egg production in September recorded 9.5 million eggs. This figure was only 98 percent of levels a year ago. There were 501,000 active layers, 4,000 more than in August and 2,000 more than in September 2003. However their lay rate dropped marginally.

Cumulative Hawaii production for the first nine months of 2004 was 89.2 million eggs, according to the Hawaii Agricultural Statistics Service.

US egg production totaled 7.32 billion during September 2004, rising 3 percent from last year. Production included 6.26 billion table eggs and 1.06 billion hatching eggs, of which 996 million were broiler-type and 60.0 million were egg-type.

The total number of layers during September 2004 averaged 343 million, increasing 3 percent from a year earlier.