Source: Michael Fielding, MEATINGPLACE, 10/6/11

Commercial hatcheries in the 19 state weekly program set 183 million eggs in incubators during the week ending Oct. 1, the USDSA has reported. This was down 7 percent from the eggs set the corresponding week a year earlier.

Average hatchability for chicks hatched during the week was 85 percent. Average hatchability is calculated by dividing chicks hatched during the week by eggs set three weeks earlier.

Meanwhile, broiler growers in the 19 state weekly program placed 155 million chicks for meat production during the week ending October 1, 2011.

Placements were down 9 percent from the comparable week a year earlier. Cumulative placements from Jan. 2, 2011, through Oct. 1, 2011, were 6.55 billion, down 2 percent from the same period a year earlier.

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