Down slightly from a year ago, the preliminary total live weight of poultry inspected during April was 4.70 billion lbs. Young chickens inspected totaled 4.05 billion lbs., up 1% from April 2009. Totaling 65.3 million lbs., mature chickens were down 7% from the previous year. Turkey inspections totaled 568 million lbs., down 5% from a year ago.
Ducks totaled 13.4 million lbs., up 5% from last year.
During April, young chickens slaughtered averaged 5.68 lbs, per bird, up 2% from April 2009. The average live weight of mature chickens was 5.34 lbs. per bird, down 8% from a year ago.
Turkeys slaughtered during April averaged 29.7 lbs. per bird, up 1% from April 2009.
Ante-mortem condemnations during April 2010 totaled 10.3 million lbs. Condemnations were 0.22% of the live weight inspected, as compared with 0.26% one year earlier. Post-mortem condemnations, at 34.6 million lbs., were 0.97% of quantities inspected, as compared with 1.07% a year earlier.