Total UK poultry meat production saw a leap in October, up more than 40,000 tonnes on the previous month and 1.4% up compared to a year earlier.
Broiler meat production accounted for 182,700t in October, up by just 38,000t on the previous month.
Meanwhile, turkey production increased to 1,800t to 7,800t in October, but was 8.8% down compared to this time last year.
Throughputs also lifted during October. The number of UK broilers slaughtered in October increased by 5.4% year on year to total 114.1 million birds.
Boiling fowl slaughterings, including spent hens and spent breeders, held steady at 3 million birds. However, this was still 9.2% down on the same month last year.
UK turkey slaughterings were up marginally at 700,000 birds.
Chick placings
Broiler chick placings in the UK increased 3% on the year in October at 110.1 million chicks.
Meanwhile, commercial layer chick placings increased by 800,000 in October to 3.8 million chicks compared to September, but were still down 9.6% on the year.
Average liveweights per bird at point of slaughter in England & Wales held at 2.4kg for broilers for the fourth consecutive month.
Turkey poult placings fell by 23% on the year to 1 million poults.
Egg production
Farmgate egg prices averaged 144 pence per dozen in the UK during the third quarter of 2024.
This was a 0.2% increase on the previous quarter and up by 4.2% on the same period last year.
UK egg production was also up during the third quarter of 2024 with 254 million dozen eggs produced for human consumption, which represents a 7.2% increase year-on-year.