Surveys

Broiler Hatchery

Broiler Hatchery Survey

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.

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.

Respond Online

Click here to complete your survey online. Remember, you will need your unique survey code to sign in.



Charts and Maps:
Broilers: Production by Year, US
Production by Year, US
Broilers: Inventory by State, US
Inventory by State, US
Broilers: Production and Value of Production by Year, US
Production and Value of Production by Year, US
Poultry: Production and Value of Production by Year, US
Production and Value of Production by Year, US
Meat Animals: Value of Production by Year, US
Value of Production by Year, US
Meat Animals: Production by Year, US
Production by Year, US
Program Content

The Broiler 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.

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.

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 Tuesday. 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.

Related Programs

Chicken and Eggs
Poultry Slaughter
Poultry Production and Value Summary

Last Modified: 04/18/2024