Commercial hatcheries set 200 million eggs in incubators during the week ending March 30, 2013, up 1 percent from the eggs set the corresponding week in 2012, according to USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service.
Average hatchability for chicks hatched during the week was 84 percent.
Broiler growers placed 164 million chicks for meat production during the week ending March 30, a decline of 1 percent from the comparable week a year earlier, NASS reported. Cumulative placements from Dec. 30, 2012 through March 30 totaled 2.12 billion, up 1 percent from the same period a year ago.
