For the year to date, certified wholesome poultry is down 2% at 13.509 billion pounds. Chickens made up the bulk of the total at 2.903 billion pounds, turkeys accounted for 462.257 million and ducks made up most of the remainder at 11.032 million.

Live weight of all poultry was 4.590 billion pounds, down 1% from last month but up 4% from last year. Chickens made up most of the total here as well at 3.990 billion pounds, turkeys were placed at 584.332 million and ducks made up 15.361 million. For the first four months of 2007, the live weight is 18.319 billion pounds, basically unchanged from a year ago.

The number of chickens slaughtered was down 2% from a month ago but up 3% from a year ago at 724.392 million head; year to date is down 1% at 2.900 billion. Turkey slaughter totaled 20.462 million head, a decrease of 4% from March but an increase of 6% from April 2006; the year to date slaughter is 81.987 million head or up 6%. Duck slaughter was 4% lower than last month but steady with last year at 2.283 million head; the year to date total is 9.298 million head, slightly smaller than for the first four months of 2006.

The average live weight of all chickens was 5.51 pounds per bird, up 1% from both last month and last year. Young chickens, the bulk of the slaughter, averaged 5.50 pounds. The average weight of turkeys came out at 28.56 pounds, compared to 28.69 a month ago and 28.29 a year ago. Duck weight was up 1% from last month but down 4% from last year at an average of 6.73 pounds.