Latest poultry and poultry meat statistics
Source: gov.uk (2025-11-20)

Monthly statistics on the activity of UK hatcheries and UK poultry slaughterhouses.

This monthly publication includes the number of chicks placed and eggs set by United Kingdom hatcheries. The number of birds placed each month shown below give an indication of future poultry meat and egg production. The number of eggs set each month indicates how many birds will be available for placing in future months.

It also includes statistics on the number of poultry slaughtered, average live weights of poultry and poultry meat production in the United Kingdom.

The editions of the slaughterings, weight and production datasets are now merged into one document for greater transparency.

User Engagement

Data from the poultry slaughter and hatchery statistics (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/poultry-and-poultry-meat-statistics) are an invaluable evidence base for policy makers, academics and researchers. The data is also heavily relied upon by representatives of the poultry industry. The poultry slaughter and hatchery statistics (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/poultry-and-poultry-meat-statistics) is also used by the British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) as layer chick placings indicate the future laying flock size (and hence egg production). The British Poultry Council also makes heavy use of the data as the Commercial broiler chick sets and placings give evidence on the current state of the industry and predict the available supplies of meat for the coming year. This, in turn, can affect poultry meat prices and trade decisions on levels of imports and exports to maintain supply. The breeder chick placings are also a key measure of future flock sizes and intentions of the sector. The Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board AHDB- Cereals and Oilseeds, rely on the chick placings data as a good indicator of feed demand and hence grain usage by the sector.

As part of our ongoing commitment to compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (https://code.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/) we wish to strengthen our engagement with users of poultry slaughter and hatchery statistics (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/poultry-and-poultry-meat-statistics) data and better understand the use made of them and the types of decisions that they inform. Consequently, we invite users to register as a user (https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=UCQKdycCYkyQx044U38RAvMEgOxhWuZCpr9kfPf834FUMDZYQktTSlBUTFMxSktUSVRGQlVWUEw4My4u), so that we can retain your details and inform you of any new releases and provide you with the opportunity to take part in user engagement activities that we may run. If you would like to register as a user of the poultry slaughter and hatchery statistics (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/poultry-and-poultry-meat-statistics), please provide your details in the attached form (https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=UCQKdycCYkyQx044U38RAvMEgOxhWuZCpr9kfPf834FUMDZYQktTSlBUTFMxSktUSVRGQlVWUEw4My4u).

Next update: see the statistics release calendar (https://www.gov.uk/search/research-and-statistics?content_store_document_type=upcoming_statistics&organisations%5B%5D=department-for-environment-food-rural-affairs&order=release-date-oldest)

For further information please contact: xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx) X: @DefraStats (https://x.com/@defrastats)