Wisconsin egg production during March was 151 million eggs, down 8 percent from February and down 21 percent from last year. This is according to the latest chickens and eggs report from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service.
The average number of all layers on hand during March was 6.02 million, down 15 percent from February and down 21 percent from last year.
“The large decrease in layers in Iowa and Wisconsin is due to the bird flu,” Doug Decock with the NASS Upper Midwest Regional Field Office tells Mid-West Farm Report. DATCP announced the first confirmed case of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in Wisconsin on March 14 in a commercial poultry flock in Jefferson County.
Eggs per 100 layers for March in Wisconsin were 2,509, up 9 percent from February but down slightly from last March.
Nationally, egg production totaled 9.39 billion during March, down 1 percent from last year. Production included 8.03 billion table eggs, and 1.37 billion hatching eggs, of which 1.27 billion were broiler-type and 97.2 million were egg-type.
The average number of layers during March totaled 381 million, down 3 percent from last year. March egg production per 100 layers was 2,467 eggs, up 3 percent from March 2021.
Total layers in the U.S. on April 1 totaled 373 million, down 5 percent from last year. The 373 million layers consisted of 305 million layers producing table or market type eggs, 63.9 million layers producing broiler-type hatching eggs, and 3.7 million layers producing egg-type hatching eggs. Rate of lay per day on April 1 averaged 80.1 eggs per 100 layers, up 3 percent from 2021.
Egg-type chicks hatched during March totaled 61 million, down 2 percent from March 2021. Eggs in incubators totaled 57.3 million on April 1, up 3 percent from a year ago.
Domestic placements of egg-type pullet chicks for future hatchery supply flocks by leading breeders totaled 199 thousand during March, down 39 percent from March 2021.
Broiler-type chicks hatched during March totaled 845 million, up slightly from 2021. Eggs in incubators totaled 721 million on April 1, up slightly from a year ago.