Largest Chicken Hatcheries in The United States?

[Bullitt]

Is there a list of the largest chicken hatcheries in the United States?

I feel I know what a few of the hatcheries would be on say a top 10 list, but I want to find out which ones are the largest. When I say largest, I mean hatcheries that sell the most chickens.

Thanks.

 

[JadeFarms]

Well, some of them off the top of my head are Mcurray hatchery, cackle hatchery, Meyers hatchery, Strombergs hatchery, junks hatchery, Hoover’s hatchery, and I think My Pet Chicken is one too.

 

[Bullitt]

Thank you. Those were many of the hatcheries I was thinking of. I do not know Junks Hatchery.

But I am looking for a list of like the top ten largest hatcheries, from largest to smallest. It would also be nice if there was at least an estimate of how many chickens each hatchery sells each year.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Mypetchicken isn't a hatchery. To my knowledge they're a little more like Tyson or something where they contract out people to provide them chicks. But I could be wrong.

 

[BullChick]

That is what they do, but anymore it seems a common practice. I trust Meyer, but they said I couldn’t pick up certain fowl because they are not hatched in Polk, OH.

 

[FortCluck]

The only two that I've used is Meyers and Cackle.

 

[Acre4Me]

What is your purpose for wanting the top ten with numbers?

many or all hatcheries are private companies, so would not need to disclose numbers. However, maybe rules are different for a hatchery. But if not required to disclose numbers, then you may never really know.

it would seem that you could get a fairly good estimate of big hatcheries with a little online legwork yourself. For example, I can go to Meyer website and see the number available for one breed or another for each hatching week and often it is in the hundreds. That info, combined with their sharp website, multi-person customer service, and existence of a large store, and their sexing guarantees leads me to believe they are quite large and would make it into the top ten list.

However, I’ll bet the actual largest hatcheries are those that hatch out chicks for use in the egg production industry or meat industry. Of course, I’m guessing you didn’t mean those hatcheries.

 

[JadeFarms]

Mypetchicken isn't a hatchery. To my knowledge they're a little more like Tyson or something where they contract out people to provide them chicks. But I could be wrong.

Ok, I wasn’t sure bout them.

 

[Bullitt]

What is your purpose for wanting the top ten with numbers?

many or all hatcheries are private companies, so would not need to disclose numbers. However, maybe rules are different for a hatchery. But if not required to disclose numbers, then you may never really know.

it would seem that you could get a fairly good estimate of big hatcheries with a little online legwork yourself. For example, I can go to Meyer website and see the number available for one breed or another for each hatching week and often it is in the hundreds. That info, combined with their sharp website, multi-person customer service, and existence of a large store, and their sexing guarantees leads me to believe they are quite large and would make it into the top ten list.

However, I’ll bet the actual largest hatcheries are those that hatch out chicks for use in the egg production industry or meat industry. Of course, I’m guessing you didn’t mean those hatcheries.

I know most are probably private companies. That is why it might be difficult to get numbers. I was hoping someone here might have some estimates, though. Maybe there are people reading this who work at some of these hatcheries and would have some idea.

I meant hatcheries that sell direct to consumers like Cackle, Myers, Murry McMurry, Mt. Healthy, and on and on.

Maybe this is more difficult than I thought it would be. I am just curious how many chickens the largest retail hatcheries sell in a year.

 

[Acre4Me]

@Meyer_Hatchery maybe you have some insight?