Bird numbers for poultrymeat production in the UK have continued to rally for another month, after showing a net downturn in 2025.
For both broilers and turkeys, day-old placings in May showed a year-on-year increase for the fifth month in succession.
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According to Defra’s latest figures, turkey poult placings in particular have been racing ahead since the start of this year. The data shows that poult numbers in May were up by 33% on the same month last year, an increase of 260,000 to 1.06m.
Even allowing for a possible future revision, this is a hefty rise, and the biggest in a year that has seen increases every month. In the year to date (5 months), the running total reached 3.6m day-olds placed, an average rise of 26.3% over the period.
Similar figures apply to the number of turkeys slaughtered. The total for May was also notably high, even though the birds were placed several months previously. This came to 600,000, the highest for the year so far, amounting to a rise of 28.5% on a year earlier.
20% increase
During the first five months of the year overall, an extra 440,000 birds were processed, a rise of 20% on the same period of 2025.
The broiler sector has shown a similar trend, although inevitably fo such a massive industry, the increases are more modest.
Broiler slaughterings during the first five months were up by 180,000 on last year, to 470m, while production rose by 0.9% to 773,000 tonnes. In the most recent month, May, output was up by 0.4% to 161,000 tonnes.
Just as with turkeys, placings of day-old broilers were higher than the year before, in every month so far this year. In May itself, an extra 270,000 day-olds were placed on units, compared with the same month last year, to reach a total of 97.7m.
Following increases in all of the previous months, the total of chicks placed for the first five months of this year came to 483m birds, amounting to an increase of 5.8m on the same period last year.
