South Africa’s national poultry flock consisted of 168.5 million birds on nearly a million farms at the end of last year.
Compiled by Michael Acott
The statistics are contained in SAPA’s provincial distribution report for the fourth quarter of 2025.
There were 138.7 million broiler birds on 693 farms, and a further 29.7 million egg-industry birds on 282 farms.
The total of 975 farms are those registered on SAPA’s avian-influenza database, from which the distribution list is compiled.
North West province is home to the largest number of birds (21.1% of the total), followed by Mpumalanga (17.5%) and the Western Cape (17%).
North West also has the largest broiler-bird population (23%), again followed by Mpumalanga (19.3%) and the Western Cape (16.7%).
The distribution of egg-industry birds is very different. Gauteng leads here (22.5%), with the Western Cape second (18.6%) and Free State third (15.3%).
This article first appeared in Poultry Bulletin (Issue 31) April/May 2026 and is republished with permission. Click the cover below for the full edition.
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