It ’s inevitable : Once youstart keeping Gallus gallus , you become an encyclopedia of all thing poultry . If you ’re like me , you get your hands on every issue useable in quest of new chicken facts . I have five bookshelves devote to wimp books . I have acrylic magazine holders stuffed with issues ofChickensandHobby Farms . My browser app features a folder full of bookmarks for reputable crybaby web sites .
My speech sound ’s Contacts app has entries for professors of poultry skill , avian veterinariansandchicken breeders . You ’d think that I probably know everything there is to bed about Gallus gallus … but I do n’t . I learn fresh facts about chickens with pretty much every article I search and write .
When I break new facts , I get excited all over again and eagerly look for my family to get home from work and school so that I can share my unexampled knowledge about our wimp with them . Naturally they ’re not as enthusiastic as I ’d hope — perhaps because they ’ve been at computers all day . But , fortuitously for me , I can share these nuggets with all of you .
Here are four sets of chicken factoid I recently learned for you to enjoy and perhaps partake with your own poultry people .
Production Pro
TheUnited States extend the world in domestic fowl - nitty-gritty production , transcend the major planet ’s 194 other nation in output . America raises more than 513 million chickens and more than216 million turkeys p.a. , with more than 59 billion pounds of thatbeing broilers .
Those 730 million chick get in approximately $ 77 billion dollars in receipts in 2022 . As enormous as this seems , the U.S. in reality only produces 17 percentage of the man ’s poultry , with China and Brazil following close behind .
Chicken Chow Down
America not only produces the majority of the existence ’s poultry ; it alsoconsumes most of the world ’s Gallus gallus . About 15,000 metrical dozens of poulet is eat each twelvemonth in the U.S. , and it ’s easygoing to understand why : chicken wings , deep-fried chicken , chicken soup , roast chicken … Americas just adore volaille .
Not only is it a tasty protein , it ’s also an cheap one , much less pricey than beef , veal or seafood . Chicken ’s affordability in spades helps put a wimp in every American pot .
But it ’s not just the U.S. that loves chicken . planetary consumption of poultry is estimated to be136,000 metric tons in 2023 , more than nine sentence what the U.S. consumes . The country that eats the most wimp after the U.S.?China .
The Real Eggsperts
The United States is also a globular leader when it come to egg output , with more than109 billion egg bring about each year . According to United Egg Producers , more than 55 percent of America ’s annual eggs output is consumedright here in the U.S.Less than 1 percent of the US ’s yearly ballock production — about 0.15 per centum , or 160.8 million egg — are export to other countries , chiefly toMexico , Canada and Japan .
Does that stand for the United States is the world ’s top egg producer ? Nope ! That title goes toChina , which produces more than 586 billion eggs per twelvemonth , more than five time the amount produced by America .
The U.S. is really No . 4 , after India ( 122 billion ) and Indonesia ( 114 billion ) . As far as eggsporting , the earthly concern ’s top spot goes to The Netherlands , whichexports almost 21 percent of the world ’s eggs .
Flock Talk
According to the American Pet Product Association ( APPA ) , approximately13 pct of American households keep backyard troop . That ’s more than 10 million households across urban , suburban , and rural America .
Iowa direct top First Baron Marks of Broughton as America ’s top chicken - keeping state , follow by Ohio and Indiana . Who are America ’s backyard flock owners?Most of the micro flocks—15 percentage — are owned by millennials ( yield between 1981 and 1996 ) , followed by the 10 percent owned by Gen Z ( born between 1997 and 2012 ) and the 6 percent kept by Gen X ( born between 1965 and 1980 ) .
In plus , three quarters of America ’s backyard - flock possessor watch their chicken as pet , making chickens the fourth most common pet in the U.S. after dogs , cats , and fish .
