Impact of Rotten Eggs on Hatchery Performances: A Multicentric Study

Abstract

Day-old chick quality is an essential element for the overall profitability of the broiler productive cycle and has been associated with the growth performance and feed conversion rate. An effect on the development of the immune system was also reported, which could likely account for reduced susceptibility to infectious diseases and improved animal welfare parameters. Besides direct cost reduction, lower antimicrobial use and improved animal welfare are crucial in the directive of European Union legislation and are at the forefront of customer choices. Several factors contribute to determining the chick quality. Breeder flocks genetics, health, and management affect the egg features, quality, and bacterial load. However, hatchery practices play a pivotal role, since adequate hygiene and handling are fundamental in reducing egg contamination and cross-contamination. The presence of rotten eggs is often regarded as a major risk, since the internal bacterial load can contaminate the needle used for in-ovo vaccination, the nearby eggs, and the whole incubator/hatching room when broken. In the present multicentric study, representative of 40 hatcheries located in 11 European countries, a remarkable impact of the rotten egg percentage on the hatchery productive parameters, representative of the hatchability, embryo mortality, and level of contamination, was demonstrated. Efficient rotten egg removal and the application of appropriate detection and removal tools should thus provide remarkable benefits for hatchery performance and indirectly for downstream poultry production.

Discriminant Canonical Analysis as a tool to determine traces of endangered native hen breed introgression through egg hatchability phenomics

“…The poultry industry has quantitatively and qualitatively improved in the last decade, which positioned incubation as one of the most determinant areas of great development, whose purpose is to produce healthy and excellent quality chicks [23]. Overall hatchability can be defined as the percentage of eggs that, if incubated, eventually produce chicks [4]. Although this productive feature is highly influenced by nutritional, management, and health factors in the breeding flock, as well as by conditions in the incubation process in the hatchery plant it has been ascribed to a hereditary component [5,6].…”