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Hatching eggs
Reconciling maternal (flock) age and chick quality
- Written by Marleen Boerjan
The expression ‘chick quality’ is a general term, often used by hatchery managers to describe the appearance of a batch of day old chicks. In this context, chicks deemed to be of ‘good quality’ are active with closed navels, a soft, smooth yolk sac, no red hocks and a clean beak. In such a batch, the birds are uniform in appearance and weight.
Read more: Reconciling maternal (flock) age and chick quality
Hatching egg quality
- Written by Marleen Boerjan
Hatchability and chick data are the most important references for optimising incubation management. The age of the flock, number of storage days and incubation program are typically included in the analysis and optimization of hatchery results, but very often, insufficient attention is paid to the quality of the hatching eggs. While external quality is usually considered, there is much debate regarding internal quality control on a regular basis.
Uniform eggs are laid by uniform hens
- Written by Maciej Kolańczyk
Uniformity in day-old chicks is increasingly important as a contributor to economic efficiency. Producing chicks of a uniform size requires two basic conditions: an optimized incubation process, which depends on the quality of the incubators and the incubation programs - and uniformly sized hatching eggs, which relies upon many factors linked to the breeder farm. Breed, the age of the hen, the hen’s body size, feeding, diseases and the farm environment are all key factors.
Managing fertility: good breeding shows
- Written by Maciej Kolańczyk
The percentage of fertile eggs is one of the most important parameters influencing the economic performance of a breeder flock. An embryo can of course only develop from a fertile egg.
Care of the egg: from nest to farm store
- Written by Gerd de Lange
A healthy, well managed breeder flock, receiving a balanced feed ration, will produce good quality hatching eggs. At the moment an egg is laid, it contains an embryo of 30,000 - 60,000 cells. At that point in time, each cell is already programmed for its future function. With the best of care, the hatching potential held in this delicate embryonic structure will be fully realised. But get it wrong - and much can go amiss between nest and farm store.
Hatching egg transport
- Written by Gerd de Lange
Breeder farms are often situated away from the hatchery. The distance between the two sites therefore becomes an important consideration when planning the transfer of eggs to the hatchery. Typically, deliveries vary from daily to not less than twice weekly, as increased storage time has a negative impact on hatchability and chick quality.
Impact of hairline-cracked eggs
- Written by Marleen Boerjan
In general, good quality eggs are selected and placed for incubation. This means that only clean eggs with shell intact should be placed on the setter trays. Dirty or floor eggs and eggs with visible cracks are removed and not placed. Eggs with hairline cracks might often not be recognised and will, consequently, be placed in the setter trays and incubated.
Storage of hatching eggs
- Written by Gerd de Lange
Egg storage is the time between oviposition (laying) and the start of the incubation process for hatching eggs. Optimal hatching results and chick quality can be achieved if eggs are set after an initial adaptation period of about 1 to 2 day(s). This allows carbon dioxide to be released from the egg, which increases albumen pH from 7.6 at oviposition to pH8.8 - 9.3. Yolk pH remains virtually constant around pH6.5, so that the embryo, situated on the yolk, is exposed to a pH-gradient. This optimises early embryonic development.
The importance of preventing ‘sweating’ eggs
- Written by Gerd de Lange
'Sweating' of eggs refers to the phenomenon of condensed water sitting on the egg shell surface. This occurs when cold eggs are suddenly exposed to a higher environmental temperature. The warm air with a certain moisture content cools down rapidly directly around the colder eggs. Since cold air contains less water than warm air, relative humidity will increase until the air is saturated. And at that moment, condensation will take place on the cool egg surface.
Dealing with exploders
- Written by Gerd de Lange
Hatchery employees, especially when involved in transferring eggs from setter to hatcher, are occasionally confronted with so called ‘bangers’ or ‘exploders’. A loud bang, followed by a very bad smell, are the usual signs. This phenomenon is caused by gas producing bacteria, often Pseudomonas spp., inside the egg.
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