H&N International GmbH, one of the world's fastest growing primary layer breeding companies, announces the appointment of Centurion Poultry, Inc. as its distributor for the marketing and sales of H&N branded egg layers in the United States.

H&N International, which has its headquarters in Germany, is a subsidiary of EW Group GmbH. The company distributes H&N layer breeding stock in 35 countries around the world. Due to the highly competitive characteristics of the H&N breeding stock – such as a persistent production rate, good livability, an excellent feed conversion rate, shell quality and optimal egg weight – backed by a strong technical support team, the company has experienced a consistent growth in its market share over the years and has earned an excellent reputation in the layer industry. Therefore, the launch of field-proven H&N layers in the US market is considered the next logical step.

Centurion Poultry, Inc., a family-owned hatchery business is based in Lexington, Georgia. The Company was founded in 1991 and in less than 25 years, it has grown to become the largest independent commercial egg layer chick producer in the US. Centurion distributes chicks from strategically located hatcheries in Alabama, Iowa, Missouri and Pennsylvania. In addition, Centurion has a long-standing association with Kansas-based Nelson’s Hatchery. This hatchery network gives Centurion a capacity to produce over 50 million H&N layer chicks per year.

Rich Wall, Senior Vice President of H&N International commented: “For 70 years, H&N has invested heavily in leading edge genetic research aimed at continual improvement of its egg laying stocks. Today, H&N layers are enjoying an outstanding track record around the world.

“I am extremely delighted that H&N layers will return to the US in such a robust way especially during the year of the company's 70th anniversary. I am absolutely confident that the characteristics of our bird will fit the US market requirements extremely well. Together with our experienced team of poultry management experts at H&N, I am committed to do everything to help make this introduction a success.”

Gijs Schimmel, President of Centurion Poultry added: “Due to changes in the marketing approach of our current supplier of layer breeding stock, it became evident it would be best for us to explore alternatives. After considering several options we chose to take on the distribution of H&N branded layers. In the knowledge that not only it has its roots of origin in the US and is still a well recognized brand among US egg farmers; it also has a positive and proven genetic performance, which we believe perfectly fits our customers' expectations.”