SIC 0254 Poultry Hatcheries

SIC 0254

This category includes establishments primarily engaged in operating poultry hatcheries on their own account or on a contract or fee basis.

NAICS CODE(S)

112340

Poultry Hatcheries

This is a small industry, with less than 800 businesses operating primarily as poultry hatcheries in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This number has been falling in the late 1990s and early 2000s due in part to massive vertically integrated operations that produce chickens in great quantities and raise them from hatchery to slaughterhouse.

As this industry is highly automated, most operations have a small staff. Roughly half of all poultry hatcheries employ fewer than five workers. The remainder of the establishments maintain staffs of various sizes.

A few companies controlled the majority of the hatchery market in the early 2000s. These were mainly giant, vertically integrated operations that...