Nebraska hens laying more eggs

While Nebraska’s commercial laying hen population is down this year, birds are keeping egg production stable, according to the Nebraska Corn Board. In 2008, 10 million hens produced 2.5 million eggs. This year, the number of layers is down to 9.38 million, which produce about the same number of eggs.
The state ranks ninth nationally in total egg production, and leads production of further processed egg products. The egg industry contributes about $95 million to the Nebraska economy annually, part of which accounts for consumption of more than 8 million bushels of corn and the growing usage of distillers grains. In the U.S., 2.76 billion eggs are produced annually.