Foster Farms to reopen hatchery for turkeys

Foster Farms has plans to convert its unused broiler hatchery in Turlock, California, to a turkey hatchery. The hatchery has not been in use for eight years.
According to the Turlock Journal, the company is going through the process of renovating the facility, which includes enlarging the building by 5,400 square feet. Plans are also in the works to make electrical upgrades and to install air handling units and incubators.
The expansion will allow Foster Farms to increase its hatching numbers and provide better quality poults. The Turlock hatchery will give the company the capacity to set 300,000 eggs per week, and will allow Foster Farms to consolidate its turkey hatching operations into one hatchery, said Yubert Envia, Foster Farms vice president of Turkey and Prepared Foods. The turkey hatchery is expected to add 25 jobs to the local economy.
Foster Farms is presently seeking the needed permits for the hatchery project. The new turkey hatchery is expected to be operational in May 2016.
Foster Farms slaughtered 247 million pounds of live turkeys in 2014, according to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies Database. Headquartered in Livingston, California, Foster Farms is also the tenth largest broiler company in the United States.

UK turkey producer opens new hatchery

Paul Kelly and Shane Lodge, hatchery manager, work at the new facility in Danbury, England.

The opening of a new pedigree hatchery in Danbury, England this summer marks the completion of a five-year expansion for FarmGate Hatcheries turkey breeding program. FarmGate Hatcheries is part of Kelly Turkeys.
The hatchery increases the company's output of poults to almost 200,000 a week for the traditional Christmas turkey market. The hatchery is part of the £800,000 program to develop breeding capacity, including investments in pedigree farms in Ayrshire and Essex.
The pedigree hatchery was built on the site of the original commercial turkey hatchery where Derek Kelly began producing poults in the 1970s, when he took over the River Rest Hatcheries. A much larger hatchery for commercial poults was opened alongside the site 16 years ago. Over the past year, pedigree birds were hatched by Coolen in the Netherlands while the new premises were built.
Equipped with single-stage machines, the facility can hatch commercial turkey poults twice a week in the early season before being dedicated to pedigree stock during August and September.
"We've found this year that producers are a lot more cautious about growing turkeys on spec and overall there's been around a 5 percent fall in demand," said Paul Kelly, managing director of FarmGate Hatcheries. "Dumping overproduction on wholesale markets has proved an expensive exercise in many cases.
"As well as catering for the traditional United Kingdom market, the increased capacity will provide for our expanding sales in Europe and we've plans to develop the market for KellyBronze in the United States. With our pedigree farms in Scotland and Essex, and with our pedigree sister farms in East Anglia, we have a strategically placed gene pool that reduces the risk of exports being disrupted through disease outbreak and health certification is critical."
The new hatchery is equipped with four Chick Master single-stage setters with a capacity of 40,320 turkey eggs and two hatchers. Design features include trolleys end-on to the paddle fan to achieve uniform airflow through a clear pathway over the eggs, with no air resistance even when trolleys are turned.
The modular design provides sectional control and can be configured for different capacities. High-efficiency motors and cooling coils contribute to energy savings, with molded dampers and door seals making the machines airtight to ensure correct carbon dioxide levels.

Poults hatched, placed in March down significantly from a year ago

The number of turkey poults hatched and placed in March both dropped by substantial amounts when compared to the same month in 2012, the USDA's latest Turkey Hatchery Report reveals.
Poults hatched in the United States during March totaled 21.7 million, which is down 14 percent from the 25.2 million reported in March 2012. It was also a 2 percent decline from last month's hatchings at 22.2 million, and the lowest amount of poults hatched since Sept. 2012, which was calculated at 21.4 million.
Net poult placements in the U.S. for March were at 21.1 million, down 16 percent from the number placed the same month a year ago, which was 25.1 million. Placements were also down 2 percent from the February total of 21.6 million. Similarly to the scenario with poult hatchings, the March placements were at their lowest since Sept. 2012, where the total was 20.8 million.
The report also showed that turkey eggs in incubators on April 1 totaled 27.4 million, down three percent from the same date one year ago. The April 1 figure for eggs in incubators was, however, a four percent increase from the March 1 egg count.
States reporting turkey hatcheries include Arkansas, California, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin. 

Willmar Poultry closing turkey hatchery in Minnesota

Willmar Poultry Company, doing business as Ag Forte, plans close its Marshall, Minn., turkey hatchery in March.
The company stated high feed prices and turkey cooler inventories are causing financial challenges, and closing the hatchery is part of a plan to maintain operational efficiency.
The hatchery was originally built by the Swift company, which owned the Butterball Turkey label at the time. It was built sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s, the Marshall Independent reported. Willmar acquired the company in 1989.
According to a company press release, company representatives will meet with employees in the coming weeks to discuss placement and severance options. Willmar Poultry Company is an affiliate of Life Science Innovations.