Broiler Chick Placement Heats Up Before Summer

Arkansas broiler growers placed 24,847,000 chicks on their farms the week of April 3.

That translates into about $45.3 million worth of live birds when they’re taken to market in mid-May, based on the current broiler price of 38 cents per pound and figuring a 4 percent mortality rate.

Rod Bell, an agricultural statistician with the Arkansas Agricultural Statistic Service, says the number of broilers placed that week in the state is up 4 percent compared to last year. It’s an indication, he says, that the industry continues to thrive in Arkansas.

It also means poultry processors like Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale, Simmons Foods Inc. of Siloam Springs and George’s Inc. of Springdale have a greater supply of birds to purchase at the start of the summer. That’s when supplies traditionally taper off because hot temperatures drive up poultry mortality rates.

“We survey hatcheries all over the state every week, and we also get numbers for the whole country,” Bell says. “Georgia still leads the nation, and everyone drops off some with the heat in the summer. But Arkansas is a little ahead of schedule compared with last year.”

Cumulative placements in Arkansas from Jan. 3, 1998, to April 3, 1999, were 341.6 million chicks, or about $623.1 million worth of live birds at market.

Between the weeks of Feb. 27, 1999, and April 3, 1999, the cumulative placements for Arkansas were already 147.9 million birds, or about $269.7 million worth.