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27/05/2020
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Its All About the Chick:Assessing Chick Quality in the
Hatchery
Kuntze Ferreira A.
May 2020
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Chick Quality
• Difficult and Subjective Matter to define
• Affected by:
–What happens to the egg before incubation
–What happens to the egg/embryo during incubation
–What happens to the day old chick post hatch (holding and processing, transportation)
–What happens during brooding
– Genetics
Genetic Selection has improved growth rate and has decreased production cycle:
A good start is essential!!
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Good quality Chicks:
• High Growth Potential
• Better livability
• More robust
• Better Uniformity
0 21/0 10 42
Hatchery Farm
Development Growth
First build the engine…then drive the car…
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Quality Chick
• Uniformity
• Disease‐free• Physically perfect• Alert and active• And…
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Adapted from Guo Jun 2019
Adapted from Guo Jun 2019
Intact and normal beak
Intact nostrils and comb
Bright and Round Eyes
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Adapted from Guo Jun 2019
Intact and normal beak
Intact nostrils and comb
Bright and Round EyesFluffy down Uniform colour‐
yellowish
Hydrated and intact legs,
long tarsus and
well colored and bright.
Normal Hock
Normal Shanks
Normal toes
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Well closed navel
Well healed navel
Two ways to assess chick quality:
• Quantitative Analysis
• Qualitative Analysis
Important: sampling must be representative from different groups of chicks in both cases
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Quantitative Evaluation
• Converts morphologic aspects (qualitativeaspects) into score to make it possible tocompare them
• More objective than the Qualitative method
Available Measurements
• Body weight
• Yolk free body mass (=YFBM) or Residual Yolk weight
• Chick Yield and moisture loss
• Chick length
• Scoring systems like Tona, Pasgar or Cervantes score
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Body Weight
• Body weight depends on flock age , egg size and uniformity, hatching time and it is affected by residual yolk weight.
• Weight chicks at hatch
Body WeightIdeally, CV should be lower than 8.0, when‐
–hatching eggs are uniform enough.
–chicks are pulled at right time.
–chicks from different flocks are not mixed
–That’s why absolute chick body weight isnot a good tool for chick qualityevaluation. Ideally YFBM
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Yolk Free Body Mass (YFBM) and Residual Yolk (RYS)
• Weight each chick and residual yolk individually
Yolk Free Body Mass (YFBM) and Residual Yolk (RYS)
• Weight each chick and residual yolk individually
YFBM= body weight – residual yolk weight
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Moolenar et al 2010
52.8 g 53 g
RYS 5.35 g‐ 10.15%
RYS 14.7 g‐ 27.32%0.96% 0.37%
YFBW 47.45g
YFBW 38.3g
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Good prediction of performance but it is destructive
Chick Yield
• Sample 3 setter trays of hatching eggs from each flock
• The weight of the chicks at hatch as a percentage of their original egg weight at setting
• 67% to 68% is seen as ideal
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Chick Yield
• Sample 3 setter trays of hatching eggs from each flock
• The weight of the chicks at hatch as a percentage of their original egg weight at setting
• 67% to 68% is seen as ideal
Chicks is toogreen. Highyield, will belazy whenplaced.
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Chicks is too dry if chick yield is too low.
They will perform poorly on farm.
Courtesy Guo Jun 2019
Chick Length• Studies have shown that chick length is related to YFBM and can predict subsequent performance.
• Positive Correlation with YFBM and broiler weight, but…
• Variability between people
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Chick Length• Studies have shown that chick length is related to YFBM and can predict subsequent performance.
• Positive Correlation with YFBM and broiler weight, but…
• Variability between people
Tona, Pasgar and Cervantes
• Tona and Pasgar depend on the personsubjectivity to make the evaluation and arebased on the morphological characteristics.
– Tona up to 10
– Pasgar up to 100
• Cervantes also includes morphologicalevaluation, but also bacterial contamination onthe chicks
• All the three include activity, posture, bellyconsistency, eyes, legs, navels and remaining yolkand membranes
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Tona Score
Cervantes (1993) proposed a numerical standardfor chick quality where he defined chick quality onthe basis of three specifications viz., physical,microbiological and serological specifications(maternal Ac) to derive a numerical score for chickquality grading. Maximum 100
Cervantes Score
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Qualitative Evaluation
• Visual Evaluation of Morphological Aspects
• Challenge: variability between people
How to Proceed Visual Assessment
• Ideally both at take off and during processing
• Check boxes from the same flock from different machines and different flocks from the same machine
• Check chicks before dispatch
• Check the culls‐ grade them into categories
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Four Important Tools
During Take Off
• Check hatch window and pulling out timing
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During Take Off
• Check hatch window and pulling out timing
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During Take Off
• Check if there are green chicks
• Check for white chicks
• Check for dead chicks in the baskets
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During Take Off
• Check if there are green chicks
• Check for white chicks
• Check for dead chicks in the baskets
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Check for legs hydration
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Red Hocks
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Red Dots in the Noistrils
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Excess of Light or Stress
Check the Feather Blade
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Check the down. Wiring down
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Check the navels
Leaking navelsLack synchrony between the embryo's physiology and the development of
the morphological structures.
‐ Egg storage, old flocks, high/low EST, low WL,
green chicks
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Look for Behavior
• Chicks falling on the belts ‐ reflex
• Chicks laid down in the boxes/baskets
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Look for Behavior‐ Listen
• Chick Comfort
• Are they noisy?
• High CO2
• High/Low Temperature
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How do we know if the chicks are comfortable or not?
COMFORT
Chicks at correct temperature arequiet and evenly spread out in the
box.
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Chicks that are too cold, below 39.4°C (103°F), start thuddle and have cold legs and feet.
Chicks that are too hot, above 40.5°C (105°F), start panting and screaming.
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Vent temperature >108F
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Smell
Cortesia de Steve Tullet
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• One big cause of bad chick quality
Silva (1994)
One rotten egg Horizontal dissemination
OMPHALITIS
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Most frequent Agents Involved
Other Physical Abnormalities
Neurological issues
Eg. Biotin
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Cortesia T Torma 2013
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Most Important
• High correlation between chick quality and farm performance
• Difficult assessment, variability. Training specific people is essential.
• Produce valuable and trustable information
• Use the information you collected for improvements
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• % Hatchability
• % Culls
• % DOA
• % FWM
• …
What we see
What we see
What the eggs show us
• Contamination
• EST
• Water Loss and Chick Yield
• Hatch window… What is reallyhappening
