WASHINGTON – Commercial hatcheries set 189 million eggs in incubators during the week ending Sept. 22, 2012, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). This was a 1 percent increase from the eggs set during the comparable period in 2011.

Average hatchability for chicks hatched during the week was 85 percent.

Broiler-type chicks placed climbed 1 percent to 159 million chicks placed for meat production during the week ending Sept. 22, 2012, according to NASS. Placements increased 1 percent from the comparable week in 2011. Cumulative placements from Jan. 1, 2012 through Sept. 22, 2012 were 6.22 billion, down 2 percent from the same year-ago period.