Source:  Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 12/23/09

In USDA's Chicken and Eggs report, released this week, the number of broiler-type pullets that hatched rose 3.4 percent from their levels last year. J.P. Morgan's Ken Goldman noted in a report to investors that that is the biggest increase since April 2008.

However, the October figure had been revised downward, so that the final number was a decline of 2.5 percent (the original number showed a decline of 0.4 percent). And the number of pullets still is rather low compared with historical averages.

The number of broiler-type hatching layers was down 1.2 percent in November, compared with the same period a year ago, to 52.8 million layers of the type used to ramp up production. That is the fewest number of layers in any November since 1996, Goldman wrote.

Still, with the revision downward last month, and then the apparently large increase in November, the state of chicken supplies is running in place.

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