Broiler sets and placements last week were both up on the year.
The USDA says 244.383 million broiler-type eggs entered incubation, almost unchanged from previous week and 2% above a year ago, with the average hatchability rate holding at 79%.
Those chicks will move to meat production late this month.
Placements of mid-March chicks into meat production channels were more than a million higher than the prior week at 189.489 million head and 2% above last year, with those chicks bound for processing by early June.
