International Hatchery Practice

Volume 32 Number 8 (2018) Practical information for better breeding and hatching

BIRD WELFARE Selecting for good feather cover in your birds

MYCOPLASMA CONTROL Designing an effective control program for your layers

NUTRITION The essential role of minerals in maintaining productivity

HATCHERY AUTOMATION We look at options from around the world

PEKIN DUCKS Feed efficiency and feeding behaviour traits

IN THE HATCHERY Checking fresh eggs for unwanted development

PUBLISHED BY Positive Action Publications Ltd PUBLISHER & EDITOR fertilethoughts NIGEL HORROX [email protected] hat necessity is the mother of the use of prebiotics and probiotics; MARKETING TEAM invention is a well known gaining a much better understanding COLIN FOSTER British saying and one that has of the microbiome; and better [email protected] T proved to be true several times in environmental and biosecurity TIM BROWN [email protected] the poultry sector. One interesting control on the broiler farm. ALISON BURDASS thing to reflect on is how often has So, you might be saying, ‘that is all [email protected] public opinion or consumerism well and good, but we are farming CLAIRE FUSSEY defined the necessity? breeders, not broilers’. [email protected] It was not until the British Junior The cornerstone to antibiotic-free STEPH WEIGHTMAN [email protected] Health Minister said her now production of broilers is starting infamous words about the levels of with healthy, viable day-olds and PRODUCTION Salmonella enteritidis in British then it is obvious how the breeders SARAH DOVE [email protected] poultry, that the necessity for become involved. There are S. enteritidis freedom surfaced. companies who want to be 100% DESIGN & DIGITAL This led to various interventions antibiotic-free and we have the MATTHEW BAKER such as acidification of feeds, issue of what happens to the spent [email protected] competitive exclusion and vaccines breeders. SUBSCRIPTIONS being invented to enable the It is quite reasonable to assume SALLY WALKER salmonella problem to be that, in time, the whole industry will [email protected] controlled. operate at a level of 100% ACCOUNTS Consumerism created the antibiotic- free production. ANNE SMITH necessity for campylobacter This will not necessarily be a bad [email protected] control. It also created the necessity thing because most companies

The copyright for material appearing in International for us to improve bird welfare. currently involved in antibiotic-free Hatchery Practice is held by Positive Action Publications Ltd. Production of editorial material, in whole or part, from this Today, the poultry world is in the production will admit that various publication requires written permission of the copyright middle of its biggest invention to facets of their farm management are holder. Positive Action Publications, its editors and the contributors accept no liability for the contents of date, antibiotic-free poultry better today than they were a International Hatchery Practice and the views expressed in it production, which has arisen from couple of years ago when are statements and opinions of the authors and do not necessarily constitute representations of fact. consumer pressure for antibiotic- antibiotics might have covered up

The publishers accept no liability for late or non-delivery. free meat. This is a real necessity shortfalls in those areas. No refund can be made after fulfilment has begun. and has led to various inventions. Perhaps, in this case, necessity is International Hatchery Practice (ISSN 0959 9363) is These include better control of not the mother of invention, but of published eight times a year (January, March, April, May, July, n September, October and December) by Positive Action coccidiosis and necrotic enteritis; reinvention or both! Publications Ltd and distributed in the USA by UKP Worldwide, 3390 Rand Road, South Plainfield, NJ 07080. Periodicals postage paid at Rahway, NJ and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to Covering all the issues! International Hatchery Practice, Positive Action Publications, Cover Picture: (photo courtesy of Hendrix Genetics) c/o 3390 Rand Road, South Plainfield NJ 07080.

International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 3

The world’s unique technical and practical publication for everyone involved in poultry worldfocus breeding and hatching An executive summary of key international issues SUBSCRIPTIONS International Hatchery Practice is Antibiotics published 8 times a year and your subscription includes a free digital edition Following Europe and North America’s lead? Subscription rate The use of antibiotics is a subject high on our industry’s agenda as everyone is concerned 1 year – £UK60 about the inevitable decision that they will have to make – whether to take their operations 2 years – £UK90 antibiotic-free. Many, if not most, of the larger producers in Western Europe and North America are already heading down the road to antibiotic-free production and a few have inclusive of airmail reached their destination. What is interesting to see is the number of companies in the rest Group & multiple title of the world who are voluntarily heading in the same direction. Is this because of the discounts available pressure they are under from European or North American customers or because their own Subscribe online today @ local consumers are wanting them to do so? www.positiveaction.co.uk or contact SALLY WALKER Belief [email protected] Can we believe what we read? For details of our digital edition contact: The topic of the moment is ‘fake news’, of which there is plenty around. Some of it is in the SHARON WILSON [email protected] public domain and the rest is on various websites that encourage individuals to comment on topical subjects. However we should be careful about this use of terminology as neither PO Box 4, Driffield, the words ‘fake’ nor ‘news’ accurately reflect the situation. Often the examples used in East Yorkshire YO25 9DJ, debate are not fake, they are genuine but used out of context or manipulated. What is more England. important is that the source of the ‘news’ is identified and subjected to scrutiny. We cannot Tel: +44 1377 241724 afford to have young managers who believe everything that they read and worship the web Fax: +44 1377 253640 as a god that makes no mistakes. Y ^

OUR FULL RANGE OF TITLES We have five titles covering the Courage pig, poultry, hatchery, dairy and food & meat sectors. The importance of being well prepared Contact us for more information Courage is obviously needed with regard to the above, but how can we be courageous and [email protected] not be seen as brash, arrogant or self-centred by others? When we are courageous at work it should occur naturally and not be pre-announced. Often, someone is described as being courageous after making a brave decision or handling an unpleasant task, for example announcing redundancies in a professional way. So, what do we have to do to be courageous? Basically, it is a case of being well prepared and showing in our mannerisms (body language) that we fully believe in what we are saying and that the subject is fully endorsed by our company.

International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 5

Focus on welfare by selecting for good feather cover

ood feathering is important for a bird’s health and welfare, feed Gconversion and productivity. A well feathered bird is better able to regulate its body temperature and the feathers serve as direct protection of the skin. In general, a bird’s feather condition will deteriorate as the bird ages.

by Teun van de Braak, Product Manager, Hendrix Genetics. www.hendrix-genetics.com

As good feathering is important for welfare standards and for the economic performance of the bird, we have implemented feathering traits in the Hendrix Genetics Layer breeding programme. Feather loss can be the result of various be an indicator of a welfare problem in the multifactorial but can include breed, issues; however, the location of the feather birds performing the behaviour and precede nutritional imbalance, housing issues, lack of loss on the bird can give an indication of more damaging pecking. full use of the housing system space, and potential cause. We regard feather cover as One way to detect feather pecking issues rearing conditions. a social trait as there is a clear link between is to take note of the number of feathers on feather loss and social behaviour. Not only the ground. If you do not see any feathers, in relation to injurious pecking, but also this is a potential sign that the birds are Feather plumage scoring related to stress. Birds that are flighty/ pecking each other. stressed have a higher tendency to jump on The motivations and reasons for birds For all our field-tested birds, we score the top of each other, damaging their feathers showing aggression towards each other are feather plumage condition at two different and those of their group mates. Injurious not the same as those underlying injurious points. The first moment of scoring is at the pecking is an umbrella term used by pecking. For this reason, we score separately end of peak production, at 40 weeks of age, FeatherWel covering a group of behaviours; for feather loss on the head/neck region when the most effort is required from the gentle feather pecking, severe feather and for the back region. Loss of feathers on bird. The second scoring time is at 70 weeks pecking and cannibalistic pecking. the back usually indicates injurious feather of age. Gentle feather pecking consists of gentle pecking, while aggressive pecking is The goal of taking these feather scores is pecks to the tips of the feathers and does generally directed towards the head and to see if variation exists between the not result in much damage. However, it can neck. The causes of feather pecking are different families tested, and to see if there are differences between the crosses, whether commercial or experimental Fig. 1. Feather scores at 70 weeks of age for Recurrent Test 2017.2.3 crosses. As we test on average 350,000 birds per n Neck 70 weeks n Back 70 weeks year, we use a relatively simple scoring 2.0 method to make all the scoring feasible. In order to comply with industry standards, we 1.6 have adopted the AssureWel method, which 1.2 is a worldwide recognised method to feather score the birds. 0.8 We score all the birds individually, and we

Feather scores Feather 0.4 apply the following scores (according to AssureWel): 0 l 0 = No/Minimal feather loss: C1 C2 C3 C4 No bare skin visible, no or slight wear, only B1*BA B1*BB BC*B2 BB*B3 BB*B4 B1*BC B1*BD BC*B1 BB*B5 BC*B5 BB*B2 BD*B2B1 single feathers missing. BDBC*B2B1 BCBD*B2B1 BBBA*B2B1 Continued on page 9

International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 7

n Neck 70 weeks n Back 70 weeks 2.0 1.6 1.2 0.8

Feather scores Feather 0.4 0 68 77 86 62 63 85 73 83 58 76 60 74 67 59 78 81 61 71 57 84 66 87 79 80 56 65 64 75 70 69 72 82

Fig. 2. Variation in progeny feather scores between sires of the same cross.

Continued from page 7 indirect effects. A SNP located near a gene By adding the different feather traits to our l 1 = Slight feather loss: for a GABA receptor was associated with breeding programmes, we are able to select Moderate wear, damaged feathers or two or direct and indirect genetic effects on robust, docile birds with better feather more adjacent feathers missing up to bare survival time. This is one of the first large cover for a longer period. As animal health is skin visible <5cm maximum dimension. studies investigating the genetic architecture one of our top priorities, the Hendrix l 2 = Moderate/Severe feather loss: of a socially-affected trait in layers. We will Genetics Layer breeding programme will Bare skin visible ≥5cm maximum dimension. continue to investigate how genomics can continue to make selections for productive, Of all the feather score data gathered so contribute to solving this issue for improved healthy birds in a welfare-friendly far, we have calculated the heritability for welfare. environment. n both the neck and the back areas. The calculated heritability differs per genetic line and per area and is in the range of 0.08- 0.2. This heritability is lower when compared to egg production and egg quality traits, but it is in line with the heritability of our other social traits. This means that the genetic improvement in feather cover quality cannot be as fast as egg production traits, but we are able to gradually improve on these traits via selection. We have also partnered with Wageningen University to find the gene responsible for the direct genetic effects and indirect genetic effects of the social behaviours that contribute to feather pecking. Using breeds from Hendrix Genetics and studied in our own farms, single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) effects were estimated one by one, for both direct and

International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 9

Choosing the best antimicrobial for mycoplasma control

n commercial poultry and parent the respiratory and synovitis forms virus (IBV), where IBV titer invariably mycoplasmosis in parent stock and stock, Mycoplasma gallisepticum of the disease were reported, while reflected seroconversion owing to commercial layers: I(MG) and M. synoviae (MS) are the the majority of infections were vaccination only. l Minimum inhibitory concentration most relevant mycoplasma species subclinical. Given the emergence of virulent - MIC50 (µg/ml). from a clinical and economic point MS strains with oviduct tropism, its l Tissue distribution. of view. ability to also induce joint and l Probability of acquiring resistance. The importance of MG was Production drop respiratory disease, to act l Residue conflict in human food recognised many decades ago, synergistically with other pathogens chain. leading to an increase in control and Currently, with the emergence of MS as well as its much higher sero- l Economics. eradication programmes for this strains with oviduct tropism able to prevalence, it stresses the need to mycoplasma species and a induce eggshell apex abnormalities, update MS prevention and control decreasing incidence of MS has been production drops have been strategies in countries like India. Minimum inhibitory observed, at least in breeding stock, encountered worldwide. In this regard, choosing the best concentration in India. Based on seromonitoring data, we antimicrobial and using it in a have found that the prevalence of strategic combination could As MS responds to approximately MS is much higher, especially in layer influence a total mycoplasma double the dose of antimicrobials by Dr Susim Mukul Ray, flocks in India, exceeding 95% and control programme in commercial relative to MG, it is apposite to Group Product Manager, Zydus AH, causing 6-7% production drop on layer and parent stock. study the MIC50 of MG against MS. Cadila Healthcare Ltd, India. average and up to 20% recorded in a Additionally, we have considered [email protected] few flocks. susceptibility study on Mycoplasma Moreover, we have speculated Criteria(n=52) sp. 1220 strain (new species in geese) (based on ELISA report) that MS resembling MS strains showing However, until the turn of the strains with oviduct tropism could The following criteria should oviduct tropism. Based on the MIC50 century, the relevance of MS has be responsible for egg abnormalities determine the selection of any values reported, it turns out that been a matter of debate where only resembling infectious bronchitis antimicrobials for controlling pleuromutilin and macrolide antibiotics could be suitable candidates for treating mycoplasmosis Table 1. Comparison of minimum inhibitory concentration of antimicrobials against M. synoviae isolates. in poultry. Out of these classes of anti- MIC50 (μg/ml) reported in various research and review publications microbials, tiamulin is the most effective and has least MIC50 value. Anti-mycoplasma Mycoplasma sp. M. synoviae M. synoviae M. synoviae Class It is important to note that agent 1220 strain strains strains isolated strains isolated (n=38) (n=41)* during 1990-2000 during 1975-89 erythromycin (class macrolide) has (n=52) (n=53) very high MIC50 range (1.56-25µg/ml) relative to other class members and Oxytetracycline Tetracycline 64 ≤0.25 0.025-100 0.06-0.08 hence is not included in the list (see Table 1). Additionally, no data on Doxycycline Tetracycline 5 0.078 – – MIC50 against MS is available for azithromycin (macrolide). Chlortetracycline Tetracycline – 0.5 – –

Norfloxacin Fluroquinolone >10 – – – Tissue distribution

Difloxacin Fluroquinolone 10 2.5 – – With the predominance of salpingotropic MS strain (oviduct Enrofloxacin Fluroquinolone 5 1.25 0.025-1.56 0.1-1 tropism), it has become Spectinomycin Aminoglycoside 8 2 indispensable to select antimicrobials having higher tissue Lincomycin Lincosamide – 0.5 0.05-1.56 0.31-6 distribution in genital organs besides respiratory tract. Therefore, to put Lincomycin- Lincosamide- things into perspectives, tissue 4 1 – – Spectinomycin (1:2) Aminoglycoside distribution of two leading classes of antimicrobials used to control Tylosin Macrolide 8 ≤0.25 0.006-50 0.015-75 mycoplasmosis in poultry has to be studied (Table 2). Tilmicosin Macrolide >64 ≤0.25 – – Tiamulin has impressive tissue distribution in both the respiratory Tylvalosin Macrolide 0.5 ≤0.25 – – tract and genital organs, where in the latter it has the highest tissue Tiamulin Pleuromutilin 0.625 0.078 0.006-0.5 0.031-1 distribution. *# Most isolates were susceptible to listed MIC50 values Continued on page 13

International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 11 12 International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 Continued from page 11 resistance acquisition by MS for resistant MS strains. As an instance, eggs is lower than the minimum In commercial layers and breeders macrolides: MS resistant strains for erythromycin residue limits (MRL), while 50% deposits in its active form were also resistant to tylosin. effectively controlling vertically (tiamulin) and 8-alpha l Macrolides like azithromycin and transmitted MS. However, hydroxymutilin, hence, effectively erythromycin maintain prolonged Pleuromutilin (tiamulin) is proven macrolides like tylosin, tilmicosin counteracts MS tropism in the sub-inhibitory concentration at the to be least resistant over a long and tylvalosin pose a resistance oviduct and thereby production target site (respiratory tract) leading duration. Antimicrobial sensitivity threat through residues as they show drops. In addition, especially, for to easy acquisition of resistance. This studies on MS isolates during 1975- higher trends of cross resistance breeders, tiamulin having deposited will be especially aggravated when 2000 have proven that MIC50 range with macrolides for human use in active form in eggs, effectively used in feed which allows did not change over a long period of (erythromycin, azithromycin etc). cuts down the chain of vertical inappropriate dosing over a long 25 years for tiamulin (Table 1). This transmission of MG and MS in duration. could be due to the requirement of commercial stock. combinations of up to three Economics l Macrolide resistance is caused by mutations in region V of 23S rRNA single-base mutations in region V of gene to produce high level For feed and water medication, Probability of acquiring 23S rRNA gene of Mycoplasma spp., resistance to pleuromutilins. tiamulin at 25mg/kg BWT (achieves resistance which is present in only one copy in plasma concentration more than the genome. Thus, one mutational 0.5µg/ml) is significantly more Among the two most effective class event can change the susceptibility Residue conflict in the economical than macrolides like of antimicrobials viz, pleuromutilin phenotype from extremely human food chain tylvalosin. (tiamulin) and macrolide (for susceptible to highly resistant example, azithromycin, erythro- isolates and, as mycoplasmas have Tiamulin residues in eggs does not mycin, tylvalosin etc), the latter has high mutation rates, such events can conflict with the human food chain Conclusion the probability to confer easy and rapidly accumulate in a population as pleuromutilins are not fast resistance especially in MS (as where selection is taking place. commercially available for human Tiamulin stands out as the best they remain in a carrier state). medication. Moreover, at the antimicrobial during laying in The following facts describe the l Cross-resistance among recommended dosage (25mg commercial layers and parent stock reasons for higher probability of macrolides enables fast spread of tiamulin per kg BWT) the residue in followed by tylvalosin and tilmicosin in chicks and in the grower stage. Furthermore, when combined with Table 2. Tissue distribution of different antimicrobials for mycoplasma control in poultry. chlortetracycline in feed/water medication, significant potentiation Tissue distribution (active metabolite) of tiamulin occurs. Anti-mycoplasma Class Upper Lower Genital Egg A strategic combination of these agent respiratory respiratory organs classes of antimicrobials based on tract tract (oviduct) age, the physiological status of the flock and complexity of infection is Erythromycin Macrolide +++ + + - (Inactive metabolites only) crucial for exploiting therapeutic potential and averting resistance Azithromycin Macrolide ++++ ++ + - (Inactive metabolites only) development. Therefore, with this knowledge of pharmacokinetics of Tylosin Macrolide ++++ ++ ++ + selected antimicrobials, an effective mycoplasma control programme can Tilmicosin Macrolide +++++ ++ + - (Inactive metabolites only) be designed for parent and commercial layers. n Tylvalosin Macrolide +++++ ++ ++ +

Tiamulin Pleuromutilin +++++ +++ +++ ++ (50% active) References are available from the author on request

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14 International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 Improving breeder hen performance following consumer demand

here is a clear trend of Hy-line Brown Hubbard GGP male Novogen White Ross 308 continuous genetic progress in Parameters (Russia) line (France) (Holland) (Belgium/Holland) Tbroiler and layer breeders. With a deep focus on flock Control: inclusion level of 103:24:113 100 : 10 : 100 64/11:13/2:58/12 100:15:100 management, hen and progeny Zn:Cu:Mn – ITM/OTM (ppm) health status and use of high MMHAC: inclusion levels of performing, tailor-made nutrition 50 : 10 : 60 56:14:56 50:10:65 50:10:65 Zn:Cu:Mn (ppm) technologies, producers and nutritionists are trying to raise Trial period (hen age in weeks) 43-52 21-53 25-52 20-60 production performance on breeder farms and in hatcheries. Number of hens/flock 11,600 3,800 4,100 43,000 Improvements with MMHAC vs Control = 100% REDUCE AND REPLACE by Stanislaw Budnik, Hen mortality (%) 100.0 84.4 85.8 100.0 Senior Technical Service Manager Eastern-EU Novus Europe. Day-old pullets (%) 106.8 107.8 105.3 100.8 www.novusint.com FCR/day-old pullet 96.3 94.0 96.7 95.5

Table 1. Programme and performance results obtained with MMHAC in different field observations in broiler/ Given the shift in consumer layer breeders. demand towards more further processed products, breeder management has to stay up-to- dramatically increased the healthier feathers and wound Higher value broilers, all speed, providing the highest quality performance of broiler and layer healing, improve bird livability, and starts with more viable chicks and best end product. To what breeders, a higher quality nutritional strengthen the immune system, chicks extent can trace elements such as programme has become a need to raising the bird’s defensive capacity zinc (Zn), copper (Cu) and manganese help birds achieve this genetic against oxidative stress. All of this Over the past several years, various (Mn) affect flock effectiveness and potential. leads to a higher rate of lay, more studies have been conducted in how important is the form in which As a result, nutritionists have the hatchable eggs and improved broiler and layer breeders evaluating these minerals are used? responsibility to ensure not only progeny quality. bird health, performance and egg optimal health and productivity of Use of highly bio-available metal quality when supplemented with the flock, but also provide high methionine hydroxy analogue MMHAC versus inorganic trace The most appropriate trace quality eggs and subsequent chicks. chelated Zn, Cu and Mn (MMHAC, minerals or a combination of the mineral supplementation for Trace minerals such as Zn, Cu and Mintrex chelated trace minerals, two. In all studies, Novus’s unique breeder hen efficiency Mn are essential to ensure adequate Novus Int), allows nutritionists to reduce and replace (R&R) strategy performance of the animal, both as also reduce the total supplemental was utilised when formulating diets. The success of a breeder hinges on enzyme co-factors and as trace mineral level in the feed, while The concept behind this strategy is the ability to consistently produce constituents of metalloenzymes. still meeting the animal’s nutritional that you can take out some or all of high-quality day-old chicks in Supplementing breeder hen diets requirements and improving key the inorganic trace minerals in a diet optimal health status for growth and with chelated sources of trace production parameters. Continued on page 17 development. minerals has been shown to enhance As genetics have evolved and bone and tissue strength, support Fig. 2. Average content of Zn, Cu and Mn in the egg yolks (ppm) of eggs taken from hens at 42, 57 and 77 weeks of age. The level of Mn in yolk is Fig. 1. Effect of different forms of Zn, Cu and Mn on hatchability %, in very low and is not subject to modification due to the change in form or relation to hen age and the storage length of the eggs. level used in the feed. n Control n MMHAC n Control n MMHAC 92 40 +15.8%* +10.6%* 38.80% 88 +6.1%* 90.21% 89.87% 89.59% 30 33.50% 87.29% +10.0%* 84 84.50% 20 82.25% 80 80.96% 10 +21.6%* Hatchability (%) Hatchability 76 76.79% 2.30% 2.90%

Average content (ppm) content Average 0.65% 0.63% 72 0 27 weeks 45 weeks 27 weeks 45 weeks Zn Cu Mn 9d storage 7d storage 16d storage 14d storage *Relative improvements

International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 15 16 International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 29. 87 b 0 28.8 86.8 28. 86 5 85 28.

Ash (%)

0 a 84.3

27.6 (ppm) Zn level 84 27.5 27.0 83 ITM MMHAC ITM MMHAC

Fig. 3. Significant increase of % ash on DM from feeding the MMHAC R&R Fig. 4. Increase of Zn level (ppm) based on DM from feeding the MMHAC programme to the breeder hens, in comparison to supplementing the diet R&R programme to the breeder hens, in comparison to supplementing the with inorganic trace minerals (ITM). diet with inorganic trace minerals (ITM).

Continued from page 15 higher plane of nutrition is provided 0.02; Figs. 3 and 4) suggests a ensures better performance of the and replace those with lower levels to the hen, such as by feeding more stronger skeleton which is associated birds, but also positively impacts of MMHAC and still achieve the bioavailable minerals, their progeny with fewer locomotion problems their progeny health and quality for same or better performance. As will also benefit. The mineral later in broiler production. a better start of the broiler diets were balanced, the methionine content in the egg yolk is a good A study was conducted on Ross production that follows. contribution from Mintrex trace indicator of nutrient transfer from 308 breeders in The Netherlands in minerals was taken into account and hen to chick. The Lohmann study cooperation with one of the largest total sulphur amino acids were demonstrated that when using the hatchery groups in the European Summary adjusted accordingly. reduce and replace strategy with Union. The study used seven-day A summary of findings in some of MMHAC, significantly higher levels mortality rate of the progeny as an Trace minerals such as zinc, copper the aforementioned trials can be of zinc and copper are observed in indication of chick health. and manganese play an essential role found in Table 1. the egg yolk (Fig. 2). Approximately 43,000 hens in maintaining healthy and In the trial carried out in the Another study conducted in heavy received the more bioavailable productive breeder hens. Novogen White layer breeder flocks, broiler breeders (Hubbard) in France MMHAC from 20-60 weeks of age Supplementing breeder diets with great emphasis was placed on the evaluated the impact of trace which led to a higher number of Mintrex chelated trace minerals effect of mineral source on total mineral source supplemented on viable chicks compared to the (MMHAC) optimises egg production number of hatched chicks in relation mineralisation level of tibia bones of results the hatchery group achieved and hatchability up to 80 weeks of to the storage length of the eggs. day-old chicks, based on its crude with their usual ITM programme (Fig. age when compared to other organic The assessment was done twice ash and Zn content. The significantly 5). These findings demonstrate that and inorganic mineral sources. during the study period, in total higher level of ash found in the tibia supporting breeder hens with a Additionally, due to higher 2,400 eggs were collected at 10 and of chicks originating from hens unique source of highly bio- bioavailability and utilisation by the 28 weeks after the start of the trial supplemented with MMHAC (P = available Zn, Cu and Mn not only animal, egg yolks contain an (hen age 27 and 45 weeks optimised amount of minerals which respectively). During incubation, the are available for the developing eggs were first candled to identify Fig. 5. Lower average % mortality following the MMHAC R&R programme chick to utilise for structural growth, clears versus dead embryos: higher compared to the standard inorganic trace mineral (ITM) supplementation. system development and viability. fertility and lower embryo mortality Thanks to a well researched, well- was noticed in the MMHAC group 1.00 founded reduce and replace strategy, (Fig. 1). Mintrex trace minerals achieve these This benefit became especially effects at lower supplementation 0.95 0.96 visible when the eggs were stored levels than inorganic sources, for a longer time (up to 35% lower). eventually resulting in a higher final As a result, eggs from hens 0.90 total profitability of breeder supplemented with MMHAC had a operations, while also reducing the higher hatchability percent (Fig. 1). Mortality (%) 0.85 0.86 environmental impact of Another parameter that was production. n assessed within the Lohmann Brown 0.80 breeder flock was final chick quality. ITM MMHAC References are available It is well accepted that when a from the author on request

International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 17 On-going focus on product innovation

The increasing demand for poultry embryos. With an unmatched worldwide has turned the hatchery accuracy and a speed of up to industry around, with an increase in 90,000 pockets/hour eggs are capacity year after year. candled in a split second. Directly To cope with this increased after candling exploders and large production, hatcheries are turning dead embryos are removed by faster than ever towards hatchery suction. automation. By applying this contact-free concept and an immediate removal innovatec.com of the exploders, virtually 100% cross contamination free production Improving hatchery performance in Hatchery automation can fill in the is assured. gap of sometimes unavailable labour Removing the exploders complicated antibiotic-free trend and focus on reducing operation immediately after detection costs, but above all, is able to cope eliminates the risk that they explode The first step to improve ovo vaccination and the micro- with the increasing throughput. during chick take-off, or in a performance in the hatchery is to biological pressure in the hatcher At the same time consumers are separator, preventing clean chicks ensure the eggs are positioned environment. As a consequence, this demanding antibiotic-free meat, from becoming dirty. properly on the tray before improves hatchability and chick therefore increased biosecurity is This results in a significantly higher incubation – with the round end up. quality,and helps with antibiotic-free required at hatcheries. number of cleaner chicks, a cleaner It is well known that the percentage production. Innovatec’s ongoing focus on hatchery environment, reduced of hatch of upside-down egg is 60% Moreover, in this age of modern product innovation has set new antibiotic use, less grading labour lower and if they do hatch they will poultry production, an effective standards to cope with these and reduced first-week mortality. be discarded as cull chicks. vaccination process is absolutely important topics. CLEANchick and the Exploder essential. Progress in vaccination Their research and development Removal System make a huge ceva.com technology has taken great strides in department, in cooperation with contribution to healthier chicks and recent decades with in-ovo some key customers and scientists increased profitability. The basis of Upside-down eggs can represent vaccination taking the lead in the from several universities, have been this success is the unique Innovatec 1-3% of yearly hatching egg battle against diseases. able to develop units with the Total Concept that consists of three production. Therefore, an automatic highest speeds, while keeping pillars: reliable products, minimum egg setting analyser such as the accuracy and animal welfare to maintenance and excellent service. innovative Ovosense, that identifies unprecedented levels. Founded in 1991 and based in The and marks the upside down eggs to One of the latest introductions to Netherlands, Innovatec specialises relocate them in the right position the market has been the CLEANchick in developing high end hatchery before incubation, will give a 100% and Exploder Removal System, automation. chance of fertile eggs producing which has revolutionised the Innovatec supplies product lines good day old chicks. industry. that help hatcheries realise their full As a consequence, this improves The candling process is based on potential in order to deliver high hatchery output by offering fast, non-contact detection of living quality and vital chicks. simple and effective egg setting analysis. Additionally, in an environment Innovatec’s CLEANchick Dual Technology and Exploder Removal System – where the antibiotic-free production the new standard in maximising biosecurity in the hatchery. trend increases, maximising hatching egg quality is paramount to produce healthy chicks. However, it is not a The innovative, patented dual secret that the older the flock, the pressure system within Egginject more porous and thin the eggshells, guarantees an accurate vaccine to and therefore, more susceptible to every single embryo, regardless of contamination and the generation of egg size or flock age, by avoiding the explosive eggs. vaccination process being an Even if we strive to reduce the operator dependent process. prevalence of rotten eggs following Additionally, it reduces the number all the recommended good of operators required to process practices, it is unavoidable that some large production volumes at high of them reach transfer, increasing the speed. microbiological load of the hatchers When the competition and market and compromising chick health. This trends are a constant pressure, there fact is even more important when in are two ways to deal with the ovo vaccination is conducted. situation. The first is the traditional, Laser Life innovative candling with costs reduction. The second, technology detects and removes and the most competitive, is to use dead embryos and contaminated available technology to optimise eggs at transfer reducing the production. Which would you microbiological pressure during in choose?

18 International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 hatchery automation

Quality, precision and innovation in the hatchery

The Kuhl Corporation is a family secondary belts with wash down owned and operated business rated polarised photoelectric currently in its third generation. sensors. The heart of these systems Founded in 1909 by Paul H. Kuhl is a custom six-channel, high speed using the principles of quality, microprocessor based counter/ precision and innovation, Kuhl controller with on-board memory Corporation is now well into its for reliable and accurate operation. second hundred years of operation. The Kuhl model E-Z-Sep chick and shell separator offers a simplified kuhlcorp.com design allowing for one person operation. True mechanical This strong foundation has enabled separation is achieved utilising Kuhl Corporation to thrive and precisely spaced rollers without establish itself as a leading force in relying on photo eyes or electronic designing, manufacturing and control circuitry. supplying equipment to hatcheries The unit includes powered infeed New solutions for automation of worldwide. and outfeed with an automatic The Kuhl Corporation offers a turner and can be either manually single-stage hatcheries broad range of products for today’s fed or integrated into a fully hatcheries. From sexing units to automatic system. chick counter/boxers, chick and The advanced design of this simple More and more hatcheries have regulating water temperature and shell separators and hatchery tray to use and easy to maintain invested in single-stage incubation detergent concentration, it ensures a washers, Kuhl’s comprehensive separator provides the ability to and see their business growing qualitative cleaning of setter trays, product line delivers the quality, process up to 900 trays per hour, significantly. Because of the higher hatcher baskets and chick boxes, reliability and durability that today’s while its compact size allows the E-Z chick production, it is crucial to resulting in increased hatchery hatcheries demand. Sep to be installed in areas where strive for improvement regarding hygiene. Kuhl automated chick counter/ other units may not fit. speed, consistency and cost The machine consumes less water, boxer systems are state-of-the-art to All Kuhl products are designed and reduction. which gives an economic advantage automate the poultry counting and manufactured in Flemington, New on the water bill. As it works faster boxing process. The systems are Jersey, USA utilising stainless steel petersime.com and involves less people, hatchery designed to handle day-old chicks construction and practical design to employees can concentrate on more gently without sacrificing speed, ensure long life and ease of As this has an enormous impact on interesting tasks. accuracy or performance with a maintenance. the labour-intensity for employees, l Sexing and vaccination line: maximum chick drop of 2.5 inches Kuhl Corporation has become a Petersime is convinced that For an optimal workflow, it is per conveyor and are available in leading innovator in hatchery automation is the way to go. important to be able to process configurations to process from automation and commercial washing Petersime helps producers face more chicks with less effort in a 40,000 up to 140,000 chicks per systems. Its wide-ranging product these challenges with a range of minimum amount of space. This hour. Counters include an electronic lines have enabled them to become standard automation solutions to space saving line provides a control system, counting computer, an industry leader, while enduring increase the efficiency of essential comfortable working position for primary conveyor belt and four-wide the test of time. processes. With professional employees and guarantees a higher assistance, their experts can help speed of operation. you find out which solution will l Chick counter: deliver the most added value to With manual counting, great your hatchery. accuracy at high speed is hard to l Automatic candling and transfer realise. This machine is less prone to machine: errors and frees employees from the This compact candling machine drudgery of work as they do not picks out non-viable eggs and have to stand up for hours. It transfers fertile eggs carefully to the operates faster, which results in hatcher basket. This minimises the healthier chicks, because they spend amount of breakage and hairline less time in the take-off room. cracks and reduces the l The benefits of Petersime contamination risk. automation are plenty: It registers all data, so you can Next to an optimised value chain, provide feedback about the flock to Petersime automation provides the breeder farm and better manage plenty of benefits from minimal your egg supply because the operational cost to excellent estimation of the number of chicks biosecurity. The equipment is robust, hatching will be more precise. This easy to maintain and eliminates way, you can guarantee security of repetitive, uninteresting routine supply to your customers. work. l Washing machine: This means that hatchery When striving for uncompromised employees can now focus on other biosecurity, the automated washing tasks such as problem solving and machine is key. By perfectly improving hatchery processes.

International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 19 Automated (early) candling in the turkey hatchery

The latest candling technologies fertility and to have sufficient time NECTRA Life and NECTRA Ultra Scan to adjust the egg incubated for the are now available for turkey breeders next set; also 100% late candling is to candle, scan and remove often carried out thoroughly and unwanted eggs through the manually to remove all dead and incubation cycle. rotten eggs to secure a good hatch and quality poults. nectra-com.fr NECTRA have developed its first candling machine capable of Artificial insemination is a scanning the eggs at early and late common practice in turkey breeding incubation stage. to obtain hatching eggs, due to The technology combines spectral weight as well as the size difference analysis by LED as well as thermal between both sexes. After mapping to analyse the internal insemination the spermatozoa status of the eggs: fertilise the egg on the basis of first l Early candling is suggested after one in last one out. 288 hours of incubation – starting Depending on the frequency of from 12 days up to 14 days of such insemination and depending of incubation. It provides an indication when the egg is laid between two of the total fertility of a large batch inseminations, fertility will vary of eggs and allows removal of some significantly from one group of eggs of the eggs without removing any to another. live embryos. Embryos fertilised at the end of an l Late candling is carried out on all insemination cycle right before a eggs between 20 and 26 days in new insemination is carried out, will order to remove all eggs that will be weaker and could display more not hatch. This includes early, mid intermediate and late mortality. dead contaminated eggs, late dead Furthermore, the skill of the embryo etc and leaves only the live inseminator may have an impact on embryos. the fertility rate. NECTRA Ultra Scan automated Therefore, turkey breeding candling technologies provide a new companies have been candling a window to acquire a large amount of sample of eggs at a quite early age in data to further analyse and improve order to have an early indication of the incubation of turkey embryos.

To feature your products

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20 International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 hatchery automation

Future proof your hatchery automation

Viscon Hatchery Automation has portrayal of machine performance been active in the industry for over and flock performance, while also 25 years. Able to deliver automation adding the element of traceability for any process from receipt of eggs and serviceability as well. to day old chick delivery, Viscon l Stress-free chick handling: Hatchery Automation has While respecting the hatchery’s diversified through means of ability to process millions of chicks future-proof designing of per year, stress-free chick handling is hatcheries, service and training and achievable with the combination of business intelligence in order to be the HatchCare concept and the able to stay ahead and in-tune with abilities of Viscon hatchery trends in the market. automation. This is an optimal solution to how visconhatchery chicks are processed as they no Chick handling, candling and transfer, egg handling and washing and automation.com longer go through automated sorting waste handling. and counting machines, providing a Topics like health, improved stress-free environment. biosecurity, traceability and stress- Vinovo in-ovo vaccination also has Driving performance, uniformity free chick processing are just mere an impact on stress-free chick examples of what their automation processing. and profitability in the hatchery can help achieve. It is the entire Embryos are vaccinated in-ovo Viscon team that combines their instead of a team of people having commitment, experiences and to handle and vaccinate each and Pas Reform is the world’s only single- in the future. For almost a century, knowledge to ensure that your every day old chick at the hatchery source supplier of integrated they have combined the science of hatchery is ready for modern day or at the farm. hatchery solutions. embryology with cutting-edge requirements. With many years of experience, engineering expertise. The result is l Improving health and hygiene: trust and satisfaction, Viscon pasreform.com reliable, cost-effective hatchery Viscon believe that disease control expertise is the one to look out for automation – and real benefits in can be tackled in a variety of ways when you consider anything related If you are looking for ways to terms of chick quality, performance including their live embryo to your hatchery. All this and still increase productivity and and results. detection and in-ovo vaccination flexible to any incubation brand out profitability in your hatchery, Pas If maximising results and systems as well as biosecurity there in the market. Reform offers a complete package profitability is a key issue for your measures by means of hatchery l Egg repacking, handling and of hatchery automation solutions business, they would be delighted to layout, stringent cleaning processes sorting. that will meet your needs today and talk to you. and waste management. This way l Egg candling and transferring they work smarter to better prepare systems. chicks for a great start. l Live Embryo Detection. l TREGG Intelligence Software: l VINOVO in-ovo vaccination Complete automation solutions for To gain knowledge, hatchery systems. managers need to know and l Chick separation, processing and the hatchery understand many different elements counting systems. within their hatchery. l Washing and drying applications. Viscon’s TREGG Intelligence l Waste processing and handling Since 1924 the Victoria Company automatic transfer machine and the Software enables this through the systems. have specialised in the manufacture automatic transfer of 50,000 collection of data in real time, l Product storage systems. of incubators. eggs/hour. providing managers with an accurate l Integrated data management. The company is also able to supply victoria-srl.com complete automation solutions for the hatchery, in a joint venture with The company also supply its partners, to offer the most accessories for hatchery competitive prices on the automation, for their semi market.

International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 21 Health and Production Management Theprogramme

8.55 General Introduction, Chairman

9.00 Firm foundations – role of genetics Aviagen 12th March 2019, 9.30 Improving breeder hatchability by using innovative technology Hilton Sukhumvit Hotel Miren Albe, Ceva, Spain Bangkok, Thailand 10.00 Providing the ideal environment to maximise laying potential (day before VIV Asia) Andrew Bourne, Cobb, UK 10.30 Break £UK150* 11.00 Antibiotic-free broiler breeder production ($US200/€170) Dr Eric Bonjour, Hubbard, France

11.30 Salmonella – how do we maintain freedom? Our international experts Aviagen will look at some of the key topical management and 12.00 Q&A and Panel Discussion disease issues that impact 12.30 Lunch the bottom line in modern, intensive broiler breeder 13.30 Optimising breeder immunity Jorge Villa, Hipra production in Asia.

14.00 Latest thinking on coccidiosis control Derek Detzler, Jefo, Canada For more information contact Jojo 14.30 IB – minimising the impact of variant strains on breeder productivity Aris Malo, Boehringer Ingelheim, Germany [email protected]

15.00 Break organised by 15.30 E. coli – the underestimated broiler breeder pathogen Choew Kong Mah, Zoetis, China &

16.00 Fowl adenovirus – on the rise in Asia? Teguh Prajitno, Japfa Comfeed, Indonesia

16.30 Is breeder auditing a worthwhile use of management time? Alvin Arucan, Cobb www.positiveaction.co.uk

17.00 DISCUSSION AND CLOSE *price includes conference papers, lunch and refreshments hatchery automation

Improving efficiency while optimising labour needs

As poultry producers around the automation supplier, trusted to world update existing facilities or deliver reliable automation systems build larger, more modern worldwide. The robot cells have hatcheries, the need for faster, more advanced safety features, protecting efficient equipment grows. workers with full perimeter guarding Zoetis, a global leader in poultry and invisible barrier sensors automation, works closely with integrated into the emergency stop hatchery customers to help meet circuit. Offering the perfect setting for their business needs with KL KL Automation systems help Automation equipment. prevent stress to birds during critical hatching eggs times for egg and chick handling. zoetisus.com/klautomation The robotics move birds and eggs Dutch manufacturer Prinzen, a world to the setter tray type used by the with fluid motions and with short leader in the automation of hatching hatchery. The state-of-the-art KL release heights, while keeping them egg handling systems for on farm Sorting by exterior quality and by Automation portfolio delivers on a level plane to avoid distress and operations, also offers their modular weight will reduce usage of energy advanced robotics and robust injury from tipping. range of equipment for hatchery and waste. In addition, loading of equipment. Each KL Automation In addition to robotics for handling automation. setter trays into the incubator racks process solution is designed to eggs, baskets and boxes, the KL can be automated with the trolley increase efficiency, and optimise Automation portfolio comprises vencomaticgroup.com loader. labour and chicks per man-hour, everything required to fully The various possible system while providing reliable, low- automate a hatchery, including The individual machines each have configurations all offer clear maintenance and long-lasting stacking equipment, chick-shell an effective operating capacity of overview, full egg control and equipment to help reduce total cost separators, counters, washers and 30,000 eggs per hour, depending on ergonomic workplaces for staff. of ownership over the system’s other hatchery automation the type of setter tray. By combining All Prinzen machines are made lifetime. solutions. several machines, a capacity of from robust and durable materials. Using smart designs, KL Customised KL Automation 60,000 eggs per hour can be reached Special attention is given to specific Automation cells help improve solutions fit the needs of both new to suit the demand for bigger mechanical and electronic parts to consistency throughout the and existing hatcheries and include numbers. enhance the daily operation and hatchery. These automation cells automatic, semi-automatic and Hatchery automation includes the make it extra suitable for hatcheries. require minimal manpower and are manual options to meet throughput loading of eggs from the classic 30- Vital parts are easily accessible for easy to operate. Automation allows needs. cell tray or a setter tray onto the egg cleaning, service and maintenance. motions to be repeated throughout KL Automation is backed by a handling system consisting of When looking for optimum hatching the production day from the first to global network from Zoetis operations such as candling, grading results and automation of the egg the last basket without fatigue. That providing consultation, customer in weight categories for uniform intake process, Prinzen offers the means you can optimise your labour assistance and service. Zoetis offers sizes and correct point down setting perfect setting. force while improving productivity. support to help minimise downtime These systems also help alleviate and keep hatcheries running some of the least desirable and most consistently. injury-prone jobs in the hatchery, It takes innovative solutions to

which can help reduce turnover and keep hatcheries strong and ODAY T The targeted publication avoid labour claims. competitive, and Zoetis is SUBSCRIBE for professionals seeking the Through KL Automation, you have committed to developing products ONLINE exclusive access to FANUC robots. and services that meet the needs of latest global technical information FANUC is the leading robotics today’s hatcheries. Chick-shell separator.

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International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 23. Feed efficiency and feeding behaviour in Pekin ducks

eed efficiency has become the possibility to also select on more and more important for feeding behaviour to accelerate Fall kinds of animal production, progress in feed efficiency or to in response to rising feed costs and maintain the natural feeding awareness of limited resources and behaviour of the species. environmental issues. Therefore, Maintaining the natural behaviour individual feed intake of birds is of domesticated animals is measured and used in selection becoming more and more programmes. important in Western societies where ethical production of meat and the well being of animals is by Hans-Heinrich Thiele, important to consumers. Recent Poultry Breeding and Genetics, examples are discussions about Ihlienworth, Germany & ‘exploding chicks’ in the Dutch Bernard Alletru, Gourmaud broiler industry and the ‘flip over The feeding station to measure individual feed intake in free moving Selection, Group ORVIA, syndrome’ in the German duck flocks. Left, the entrance of the feeder station is designed so that only Montréverd, France. industry. one duck has access to the feeder. Ducks in the feeding station are The aim of this study was to identified using RFID technique. Right, the feed hoppers are fitted to evaluate the records of electronic scales. Feed consumption is recorded and stored on a PC. In the past, individual feed intake performance and behaviour traits of of ducks has been recorded in single Pekin ducks measured in a feeding cage systems, but this system is station, using a radio frequency allows the measurement of even data base located on the PC running unfavourable for the ducks and may identification system and to small meals of young ducklings. An the recording software. not reflect feeding behaviour under estimate genetic parameters of antenna is mounted in front of one Our study is based on a sample of commercial floor conditions. those traits. of the sidewalls of each feeder a much larger set of data, recorded The limited space in cages reduces place. Eight antennas represent one in recent years. The sample locomotion of the birds and module, which is controlled by a represents 4,630 Pekin duck males induces leg problems and Feeding station and animals multiplexed RFID reader system. of two ORVIA pure lines, from four mortalities, especially in heavy male Each duck is marked with a wing hatches in two years, which were lines. Even specially equipped single The feeding station is equipped band containing a HDX transponder tested for feed intake parameters floor pens with sufficient space with individual feeding places with a unique ID. Above the and feeding behaviour traits during miss the social elements of large where only one duck can eat at the entrance of each single feeder place 28 days, from 14-42 days of age. flocks and do not represent the same time. Access to the entrance a photoelectric sensor is mounted The stocking density was 7.0-7.3 ideal environment for testing the of the feeder is restricted on both to control the presence of a duck. birds/m2 floor surface, 5.4-5.7 birds feed efficiency of individual birds. sides by a transparent plastic wall, When a duck enters the feeding per nipple drinker, and 17.8-19.4 Using novel RFID technology, which can be adjusted to the needs station and the sensor detects a birds per single feeder place, with 16 breeding companies are today able of growing birds. A barrier has been movement, the weighing cell is set hours light per day. The birds were to record even small meals of added between the plastic walls to to TARA. After a duck leaves the fed ad libitum with pelleted individuals under nearly practical prevent other ducks from climbing feeder place, the sensor gives a commercial duck starter and grower housing conditions. In these testing over their companions while they signal to the system to record the feed, which was sieved to reduce units not only can the amount of are feeding. amount of feed consumed as the amount of mesh before feed consumed be recorded, it also The single feeder places are measured by the weighing cell, the supplied to the feeders. The opens up the possibility to detect designed to accommodate a feeder place, the date and time of drinkers were placed at a distance feeding behaviour. The frequency weighing cell, located above the entrance and exit into the unit and of 2-3m from the feeders and and the size of the meal can be feed hopper. The accuracy of the the transponder ID of the bird. All accessible ad libitum. recorded as well. weighing cell is about 0.2g, which this information is transferred to a The availability and utilisation of these feeding stations accelerates Traits and analysis genetic progress in feed efficiency. Table 1. Growth parameters at the end of the test (14-42 days of age). Records of daily feed intake can be St. Before estimating genetic Mean Min. Max. used to improve feed efficiency in Deviation parameters, the source data were combination with the weight gain screened for outliers, and during the testing period as the Bodyweight (g) 3,598 301 2,380 4,560 questionable records were commonly known FCR or, excluded, for example from birds Breast thickness (mm) 20.8 2.7 11 28 independent from metabolic body resting in the station, records with weight and weight gain, as residual Conformation mote 3.2 1.2 1 6 undetected identities, extremely feed intake (RFI). low total feed intake over the 28 Beside commonly known growth FCR (g/kg) 1.91 0.13 1.4 3.0 day testing period and other parameters, differences in the identified outliers. Records for all Residual feed intake* 5,000 258 3,365 6,637 behaviour of single birds can be traits were tested for normality measured and analysed. This opens *RFI was transformed by RFI+5000 before running parameter estimation before further analysis. Feed intake

24 International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 St. Genetic correlations Mean Minimum Maximum Deviation h2 BW AUS CONF FCR RFI TSUM FDUR ADF TIME RATE TSUM (n) 31.4 10.7 9.4 106.4 BW 0.43 0.57 0.65 -0.06 0.04 -0.05 0.17 0.81 0.20 0.04 FDUR (min/day) 9.3 3.2 3.4 41.1 AUS 0.66 0.34 0.95 0.06 0.12 -0.15 0.01 0.51 0.15 0.12 ADF (g) 209 20.9 137 300 CONF 0.62 0.84 0.32 0.11 0.16 -0.09 0.04 0.61 0.13 0.12 TIME (min/meal) 0.70 0.32 0.18 3.95 RATE (g/min) 11 3 2 24 FCR -0.17 -0.04 -0.01 0.34 0.91 -0.11 0.21 0.45 0.22 -0.10

Table 2. Feeding behaviour parameters (total testing period). RFI 0.00 0.07 0.08 0.89 0.38 -0.03 0.22 0.58 0.18 -0.09 TSUM -0.12 -0.16 -0.15 0.02 0.08 0.48 0.26 -0.01 -0.65 -0.23 and body weights were measured at FCR, especially when body weights FDUR 0.08 0.03 0.03 0.16 0.20 0.23 0.46 0.28 0.55 -0.93 14 and 42 days, at the beginning and should not be increased. A positive end of the test, in addition to the (unfavourable) genetic correlation ADF 0.76 0.53 0.51 0.40 0.56 -0.02 0.18 0.40 0.23 -0.03 breast thickness at 42 days. From between feed efficiency and breast these source records, feed thickness or conformation score TIME 0.17 0.15 0.14 0.09 0.07 -0.56 0.55 0.13 0.40 -0.53 efficiency was calculated in terms was found. When ducks develop of feed conversion ratio and their flying abilities and gain breast RATE 0.13 0.13 0.12 -0.07 -0.07 -0.22 -0.86 0.07 -0.49 0.49 residual feed intake (RFI). meat yield, the development of Phenotypic correlations The residual feed intake was abdominal fat reserves takes place transformed to RFI+5000 before in parallel. When selecting on feed Table 3. Heritability (orange figures on the diagonal), genetic and pheno- running the parameter estimation. efficiency it is necessary to keep an typic correlations of growth performance and feeding behaviour traits. The feeding behaviour parameters eye on breast meat development to BW = Body Weight; AUS = Breast Thickness; CONF = Conformation; FCR = recorded are the number of meals maintain good meatiness. Feed Conversion Ratio; RFI = Residual Feed Intake; TSUM = Number of per day (TSUM), the average meal During the testing period, with Meals per Day; FDUR = Duration of Feed Intake per Day; ADF = Average duration (TIME), the feeding rate as increasing daily gain of the Pekin Daily Feed Intake; TIME = Average Meal Duration; RATE = Feeding Rate. consumed feed per minute (RATE), duck males, their feed intake the average daily feed intake (ADF) increased. When growing and and the duration of feed intake per developing their feeding capacities, (TIME), the duration of the feed these testing units not only can the day (FDUR). the number of meals and the intake per day (FDUR) and the amount of feed consumed be Our analysis confirmed the duration per meal decreased. average daily feed intake (ADF) have recorded, but it also opens up the findings of Howie et al. (2010) that Due to their limited feeding moderate and relatively high possibility to observe the feeding the number of visits can be used to capacities in early life, the feeding positive genetic correlations with behaviour of the ducks, with the characterise a meal in Pekin ducks, activities of the ducks are much residual feed intake (RFI). Looking at frequency of meals and the size of a provided accurate and continuous higher in the first weeks compared the genetic correlations of these single meal. bird identification is guaranteed. to the end of the testing period. behaviour traits with FCR, a slightly The availability and utilisation of The feeding behaviour parameters negative effect of high feeding these feeding stations accelerates of the complete testing period activities and feed efficiency is the genetic progress in feed Results and discussion confirm the results of Bley (2003), obvious. This has to be kept in mind efficiency. Records of daily feed Bley and Bessei (2008) and Le to avoid a negative effect on the intake can be used to improve feed As shown in Table 1, the level of Mignon, Blanchet and Chapuis ducks’ behaviour, when selecting on efficiency in combination with growth performance and feed (2017). The difference in the feed efficiency. weight gain during the testing efficiency in both male lines and a recorded feed intake per minute It has been shown that lines differ period as the commonly known FCR sufficient phenotypic variation in (RATE) might be linked to the higher in their behaviour traits, and or, independent from metabolic those performance traits stocking density in the ORVIA differences between lines in the body weight and weight gain, as representing the genetic potential testing station. correlations among feed efficiency Residual Feed Intake (RFI). of the lines have not been There is considerable variation in and behaviour traits have been Feeding behaviour traits can give depressed by the testing the behaviour of different birds. The found in the ORVIA data pool. an input to fine-tune feed selection. environment. findings of this study agree well They can be used either to support Moderate to high heritabilities with the results of the other selection on feed efficiency or to and genetic correlations among the authors, but the heritabilities of the Summary maintain the natural feeding performance traits indicate behaviour traits are higher than behaviour of Pekin ducks, when sufficient scope for further expected. There is nearly no genetic The modern RFID technology selecting on feed efficiency. n improvement of those traits (Table correlation between the number of enables the breeding companies 3). Selecting on RFI, i.e. eliminating meals (TSUM), the feeding rate nowadays to record even small the influence of body weight, is (RATE) and the residual feed intake meals of individuals under nearly References are available more promising than selection on (RFI). The average meal duration practical housing conditions. In from the author on request

Fig. 1. Size of meals in g per week. Fig. 2. Totals meals and total time/meal per day.

35 35 70 4.5 30 60 4.0 Total time (hours) 31 25 27 50 3.5 20 22 40 3.0 15 30 2.5 10 20 2.0 Feed intake (g) 5 Total meals (No.) 10 1.5 0 0 1.0 3 4 5 6 3 4 5 6 Age (weeks) Age (weeks) n Total meals –– Total time

International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 25 26 International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 7. Turkey incubation: an art of its own

by Roger Banwell, Petersime Hatchery Development Department. www.petersime.com

he eggs of all avian species follow more or less the same basic rules of incubation. For example: egg weight loss is equally essential for a Thumming bird egg as it is for an ostrich egg. Besides, getting rid of CO2 is critical for all growing embryos of all avian species. And of course, no species can be successfully incubated without thermal absorption/ dissipation. Does this mean that all species or flock types require the same incubation conditions and we only need to adapt them to variations such as flock age, storage time, storage conditions and so on?

Unfortunately, no. Each species has laboratory and extensive field trials different sensitivities that we should with external partners. consider during the incubation We investigated all stages of process. Besides, the application of embryo development and the these rules already starts before relevance of all environmental incubation. elements. Considering egg management as A more uniform temperature well is extremely important and bandwidth, a more precise control each species will need a slightly system and improved ventilation of different approach. the new incubator design resulted in identifying several key elements.

SPECIFIC INVESTIGATION KEY ELEMENTS FOR to his own specific flocks, breeder machine has even more benefit for Petersime constantly sets up trials to TURKEY INCUBATION stock, production requirements and turkey eggs compared to chicken investigate these ‘avian rules’. As for so on. eggs. The application of Re-Store for incubation, these rules have resulted During incubation, we noted that the turkey eggs results in a better in standard incubation programs for transition from the endothermic to hatchability, a higher uniformity and turkeys. the exothermic phase for turkey EGG STORAGE FOR better logistics in the hatchery. These programs for turkeys embryos required lower TURKEY EGGS perform very well, but even a small temperatures than other species. modification based on your own This resulted in a specific, standard A lot of research was done in terms A CHALLENGING SPECIES experience can significantly improve turkey incubation program. of recovering hatchability during egg the hatchability, poult quality and This improved temperature storage as well. The principles of In essence, turkey incubation is quite poult uniformity. uniformity also revealed a sensitivity giving short periods of incubation a challenge because turkeys are For many years, the Petersime P13 that we have seen with layers too: during egg storage (SPIDES) have different from chickens in many incubator proved to be an extremely the thermal transition between been known for more than 20 years, aspects. effective incubator. Being especially setter and hatcher. but the application of it was never In our attempt to maximise the developed and tested for turkeys, Good transfer and hatcher straightforward. overall performance, we need to be this machine had different temperatures are critical. While The development of the far more focused on the specific dimensions and a different working transferring the eggs from the setters BioStreamer Re-Store with the needs of turkey embryos and poults. principle compared to the existing to the hatchers, we discovered a OvoScan device managing the Having a maximum performance of chicken machines. poor continuity of shell eggshell temperature as a key your turkey hatchery requires a high However, it lacked new temperatures inbetween. parameter in this process seemed to level of knowledge and expertise technologies such as Embryo- A smooth transition plays an be very effective and resulted in a and will incorporate a continuous Response Incubation and there was a important role in terms of lot of trials for turkey eggs. habit of optimisation. demand for increased capacities. hatchability and poult quality. This specific research has shown Getting started with comparative That is why we took a closer look at Critical in this situation is the that turkey embryos at point of lay trials will surely help you to identify the species and carried out several pulsator speed prior and during the are much more fragile compared to how certain changes to your in-house trials in the Petersime hatching process. The transition of chicken embryos because the turkey incubation profile or hatchery the fertile eggs to the hatchers also embryos are in an earlier practices can affect your hatchery means a difference in machine development stage compared to results. n airflow. The best match between chicken embryos. Because of this, setter and hatcher airflow is the application of the Re-Store essential and we integrated this in our standard programs. These sensitivities allow Petersime Secure your regular copy of to offer a much more realistic ‘standard incubation program’ for International Hatchery Practice turkeys. This program should always by taking out a subscription be considered as a ‘safe’ starting point for any hatchery. see page 5 or email [email protected] Along the way, the hatchery www.positiveaction.co.uk manager can ultimately optimise it

International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 27 HATCHER & SETTER TRAY WASHERS Positive Action Publications Ltd’s CHICK BOX, CRATE & COOP WASHERS CHICK & SHELL SEPARATORS/COUNTERS Editorial Library

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28 International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 Relationship between fat and injection with probiotic at 1.0 or reproduction 2.0g per 1000ml at the 18th day of Effects of phytase and This Chinese study (Acta Vet. et incubation could be used to Zootech. Sinica 49 1163-1168) improve the performance of Sinai calcium factors assessed the effects of fat chickens. deposition on reproductive performance in Beijing-You chickens This Australian trial (An. Prod. Sci. 58 271-283) looked at the effects of mean during late lay. In ovo feeding of glucose particle size, calcium source, calcium concentration and phytase on broiler The chickens were divided into This Egyptian work (Egypt. Poult. Sci. performance, mineral digestibility and skeletal integrity from day of hatching high, medium or low groups J. 38 495-511) investigated the in ovo to day 28. Overall performance (days 1 to 28) showed that the addition of depending on their abdominal fat feeding of glucose for enhancing phytase to diets containing 8.0g per kg feed provided by highly soluble content at 65 weeks of age. hatchability and hatching weight of calcium improved feed intake but no such change was seen with the addition The medium abdominal fat group Fayoumi breeders. of phytase to birds that had received their calcium from limestone. There produced 17.02 and 8.29% more eggs It was found in one trial that was no effect from the addition of phytase in birds fed limestone with a than their high and low fat hatchability ad hatching weight mean particle size of >0.5mm. counterparts respectively. could be improved by 14.71 and Birds fed diets containing the highly soluble calcium source had a lower The hatchability of fertile eggs 5.68% respectively. In a second trial liveweight gain than birds receiving limestone as the calcium source. from the medium fat group was 4.70 the use of a 5% glucose syrup in the Increasing calcium concentration from 5.5 to 8.0g total calcium per kg feed and 10.10% different to that of the feed to 28 days continued the decreased liveweight gain. Phytase supplementation increased final high fat and low fat groups improvement in hatching weight. liveweight gain (days 15-28). Phytase increased foot ash percentage and respectively. calcium digestibility in birds fed the highly soluble calcium source at the 5.5g No significant differences were level but had no effect when the calcium source was fed at 8.0kg per kg seen between the groups in terms Genetic diversity in Filipino feed. of egg weight, yolk weight, shell ducks It was concluded that the addition of phytase to diets improved strength or shell thickness. This Filipino study (Phil. J. of Vet. digestibility of phosphorus, especially in birds whose diets contained and An. Scis. 42 102-111) analysed the limestone at 8.0g total calcium per kg of feed or calcium with a mean genetic diversity and relationships particle size of >0.50mm. The results of this study are consistent with other In ovo injection with probiotic among local Mallard, Khaki similar studies which have shown that when phytase is given to broilers their This Egyptian study (Egyp. Poult. Sci. Campbell and Pekin ducks. performance improves, irrespective of calcium source or concentrations. J. 38 439-450) was undertaken to It was found that the Filipino investigate in ovo injection with Mallard was genetically closer to probiotic on hatchability traits and the Khaki Campbell than it was to the growth and physiological the Pekin duck. Simultaneous effects of IGF1 Simultaneous administration of response of post-hatch Sinai chicks. and Fadrozole on embryos IGF1 and Fadrozole increased grade Some 600 hatching eggs were To date, a synergistic effect has A embryos from 1.7 to 70.6%. divided into four groups – one was Male broiler chicks’ lysine been detected between insulin-like It was shown that Fadrozole a negative control and another a requirement growth factor (IGF1) and anti- increased the expression of SOX and positive control, while the This Korean study (An. Feed Si. and aromatase for sexual reversal and NANOG gene expression and remaining two were treatment Tech. 241 55-62) was undertaken to pre/post-natal growth of chicken decreased TBX3 expression in groups receiving 0.3ml of sterile determine the standardised ileal embryos. parthenogenetic embryos. In solution containing either 1.0 or 2.0g digestible lysine requirements of This Israeli work (Theriogenolgy addition, higher levels of expression probiotic per 1,000ml. male broiler chicks in their first 10 114 317-323) tested whether the of PRDM16, IGF2, NODAL and Results indicated that the two days of life. It was found that the growth and female to male sexual HDAC2 were seen in the fertilised treatment groups had better standardised ileal digestible lysine reversal effects of IGF1 and an anti- group. It was concluded that hatchabilities and lower levels of requirements of male broiler chicks aromatase, Fadrozole, could chicken sexual reversal is initiated at embryonic mortality. The lower fed on a corn-SBM diet in their first improve the development of the earliest stage of embryonic level of probiotic produced better 10 days of life were 13.27-15.33g per unfertilised, parthenogenetic development before gonadal body weights and FCRs. kg feed for average daily weight gain embryos. development. It was concluded that in ovo and 12.89-13.99g per kg feed for FCR.

The control of mycotoxins will be the theme of a one day technical conference hosted by:

12th March The full programme will be published soon Bangkok, Thailand www.positiveaction.co.uk (DAY BEFORE VIV ASIA)

International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 29 Eggshell mottling and incubation 90 results

by Lotte Hebbink, Incubation Specialist, Pas Reform Hatchery Technologies

Candling eggs not only provides breed were all individually tracked information on whether there is an and traced during incubation. embryo inside; it is also a way to Different parameters were recorded, detect abnormalities in the eggshell. including individual egg weight loss, Hairline cracks are an obvious eggshell mottling and eggshell example of this, but somewhat less colour. Hatching was also recorded known are the small translucent for each egg, and for the non- spots on the eggshell, often referred hatched eggs a break-out analysis to as ‘eggshell mottling’. Eggshell was performed to identify the mottling occurs in different degrees, underlying cause. from several translucent spots to A relationship was found between almost total coverage of the whole weight loss, hatchability and the eggshell (Fig. 1). degree of eggshell mottling (Fig. 2). The more severe the mottling, the Cause higher the average weight loss and Eggshell is composed primarily of the lower the hatch of fertiles. Setting the bar much higher calcium carbonate crystals (calcite), Moreover, the variation in which are organised in columns. The individual egg weight loss was larger eggshell pores are located between for the more heavily mottled eggs. HatchTech will launch whilst eliminating the need for a these columns. The organisation of More research should be done on a renewed version of separate storage room. the calcite columns, and therefore eggs from other breeds and different HatchTraveller at IPPE Through extensive testing, ultimately eggshell strength, is flock ages to confirm the in Atlanta next year. HatchTech’s researchers concluded dependent on the protein matrix in relationships found in this study. HatchTraveller is the world’s first that a uniform climate is the most the eggshell. Stress and disease in a hybrid, battery-driven trailer for day- critical element required during hen negatively affect the synthesis Advice old chicks with feed, light and fresh transport. When designing l of this protein matrix, which is Consider adding eggshell mottling air. It is equipped with a unique HatchTraveller, creating this uniform reflected in the structure of the to your egg quality protocol. Use a climate-control system that is based climate was taken as the starting calcite columns. When the columns candling table or flashlight to check on HatchTech’s laminar airflow point. HatchTraveller ensures that are disorganised, moisture the degree of eggshell mottling for technology and patented perforated the temperature of every chick in accumulates in the spaces between, different breeds and flock ages. radiators. the truck is kept at a constant 104°F and these appear as translucent l Mottling can increase with flock Traditionally, transport systems – the neutral body temperature zone spots when the egg has dried after age, but is also related to stress and have focused purely on sustaining which enables chicks to make laying (Talbot and Tyler, 1973). disease. Consult your supplier if life and limiting chick mortality. optimum use of its nutrients (yolk). eggshell mottling is more frequent Effect on incubation results than usual. HatchTraveller sets the bar much Keeping the temperature constant is Pas Reform did a study to find out if l If you have a heavily mottled higher. essential for preventing heat stress eggshell mottling affects incubation batch of eggs, consider checking As well as minimising the number and dehydration. results. 1313 fertile eggs from three whether the weight loss on day 18 is of chicks lost in transit, it also Besides fresh air and a constant different flocks of the same age and not higher than optimal. ensures optimal early-life conditions temperature, the chicks also have are maintained throughout the access to feed and light throughout entire transportation process, so the journey, further supporting healthy chick development can healthy growth and development. continue uninterrupted between Finally, the use of a hybrid battery- hatchery and poultry house. driven fuel source for the truck can Besides a 180,000 chicks transport also help to reduce fuel costs, while system, HatchTraveller can also be lowering the emissions and carbon used as a mains-powered storage footprint associated with chick facility for the same amount of transportation. Fig. 1. Degree of eggshell mottling revealed using a flashlight. Category 1 is chicks that are awaiting transport, hatchtech.nl heavily mottled, 4 is least mottled.

25 100 Hatch of fertiles (%) 21 95 The Ross 140 Clubs are gaining in popularity in the Middle 17 90 East and Africa (MEA) region, as more and more poultry producers succeed in optimising the performance, health 13 85 and welfare of Aviagen’s Ross broiler

at day 18 (%) 18 day at 9 80

Egg weight loss loss weight Egg breeding stock. The Ross MEA team 5 75 1 2 3 4 recently welcomed the Jordanian Union Degree of eggshell mottling for Agriculture (known as Al Tahooneh Chicken), which reached 141 chicks at 60 Fig. 2. Relationship between eggshell mottling and weight loss and hatch of weeks with one flock. The Ross Clubs fertiles (n=1313). Error bars represent the standard deviation. recognise customers who, through hard work, dedication and flock management Tel: +31 314 659 111 • [email protected] expertise, see exemplary productivity with their birds, achieving 140 or more chicks per hen housed. aviagen.com

30 International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 35 hatchery news from around the world CHECKING FRESH EGGS FOR UNWANTED EMBRYO Marking a milestone DEVELOPMENT The best way to look after hatching eggs is to collect them from the Petersime’s OvoScan controlling the eggshell temperature. nests as often as possible (ideally 4-5 times per day), disinfect the shell technology hits its In fact, it mimics the attentiveness surfaces, let them cool evenly and slowly and then hold them at around 10,000th sale this year. and real-time temperature control of 15˚C until they are placed in the setter. It is important that conditions are This means that over 30,000 the parent bird. OvoScan sensors are currently “Temperature is one of the most even throughout the mass of eggs, and that temperatures are not measuring the eggshell temperature important elements influencing the allowed to fluctuate. It is especially important to keep the eggs below of incubated eggs in BioStreamer chick quality, which is why we physiological zero – the temperature above which embryo development setters all over the world. decided to equip all our setters with is possible. As part of Petersime’s Embryo- OvoScan sensors,”Arkadiusz Response Incubation technologies, Rydellek, CEO of Park Drobiarski, a When eggs cool unevenly, some of them will develop a lot further than the OvoScan system adjusts the top producer of broiler chicks on the others. After 18 days of incubation this range will be enough to widen temperature of the embryo’s Polish market, told International environment in the setter by Hatchery Practice. the hatch window significantly, with the quality of the earliest hatching “Using OvoScan made it chicks suffering accordingly. Eggs held at temperatures that fluctuate Barbara Lezanka from Park Drobiarski significantly easier to manage the around 20-24˚C will show distinct signs of embryo development which, holding one of the egg trays with the hatchery because we no longer have if allowed to persist for too long, will give higher levels of early embryo OvoScan device. to use various temperature mortality. A max-min thermometer read twice a day and the results programmes for different flock ages.” plotted manually on a daily graph will tell you if the storage room is In addition, the OvoScan has a suitably insulated, cooled and heated for the local climate. positive impact on the in-ovo vaccination in their hatchery. “The effectiveness of in-ovo vaccination At a biological level, it can be helpful to look at the embryos directly, depends on the right development using hatching eggs from the flock of interest (do not use floor or cull time of the embryo, and OvoScan eggs; they will have been held under different conditions to the hatching helps achieve this,” added Arkadiusz. eggs). The work must be done in an area with good bright light. Label petersime.com each egg to show date, flock and location it was taken from. Use forceps to make a small opening at the very top of the large end of the egg. Remove the shell and membranes around the hole, to expose the Cobb opens managing production and customer germinal disc without damaging it (the yolk will always float so that the Colómbia subsidiary relationships. The Cobb team will germinal disc is at the top, so will be easy to find). Check that the egg expand these efforts and market the was fertile and sort the fertile embryos into order of size. Cobb-Vantress have begun birds produced directly by Cobb operations in Colómbia Colómbia. When the egg is laid there will be 30-60,000 cells in the blastoderm, as Cobb Colómbia. The company’s “Next, we will be seeking the which will have reached stage x of development. Unmagnified, the new unit is the first operation from a Compartment Certification for our multinational company specialising production unit in Colómbia to align embryo will look like a ring doughnut, with a transparent area in the in poultry genetics in the country. with our regional headquarters in middle of the ring. Once the egg is laid, provided that holding conditions Cobb Colómbia will fall under the Brazil,” added Jairo. are correct, there should be no more development. However, if the rate Cobb-Vantress Brazil management In the years ahead, Cobb Colómbia of cooling is uneven, or the eggs are held in fluctuating temperatures umbrella and will ensure the anticipates helping to meet the then some or all of the embryos will continue to develop. company’s ability to directly provide growing demands of the Ecuadorian sales and technical support to its poultry market. Poultry will be Some embryos will have customers in the Colómbian market. supplied by land using air- “With this additional unit in South conditioned trucks with innovative developed past the stage America, Cobb is able to consolidate technology developed by Cobb where they would survive the the quality of our products partners in the region. holding period, and even throughout the region,” Jairo cobb-vantress.com those which would be able to Arenazio, general manager of Cobb start developing again will South America, told International develop to produce a very Hatchery Practice. “We are pleased wide, hatch window. To stop to establish a more formal presence 2019 IPPE show in the country and bring in new continues to grow this pattern being a regular investments.” part of embryo development Cobb already has grandparent The 2019 International Production & in your hatchery, check stock on the ground in Colómbia Processing Expo (IPPE) has surpassed sample eggs from positions and expects to operate at full 590,000 ft2 of exhibit space and has you have concerns about capacity within the next six months secured more than 1,315 exhibitors and correct the problem as in order to supply the region with with three months remaining until soon as possible. Cobb’s latest product: the MV Male. the show opens. Additionally, eggs from Cobb’s This will be the largest trade show Eggs opened in the hatchery after uneven cooling, Brazil operation will be provided to floor in IPPE’s history, covering all showing very variable embryonic growth. increase production. three halls of the Georgia World Cobb has an existing office in Congress Center. A service to hatchery personnel from Aviagen www.aviagen.com Bogotá with a team dedicated to ippexpo.org

International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 31 Largest turkey hatchery

Local officials and building will come from Select turkey farmers Genetics’ facilities in Illinois, recently gathered in Michigan, Missouri, Minnesota and Terre Haute Indiana as the doors North Carolina. were opened on the world’s largest “I’m very proud of this hatchery turkey hatchery. and the hard work that the people Select Genetics, a branch of here in Indiana have done to bring Aviagen, pronounced the new this project to fruition,” Jihad establishment ‘ready for business’ Douglas, CEO of Willmar, with a ribbon cutting ceremony and Minnesota-based Select Genetics, speeches by project leaders and told International Hatchery Practice. local government. jamesway.com The hatchery will ultimately hatch 1.2 million poults a week and will feature 192 Platinum 40 incubators and 48 hatchers. Phase one, just launched, will feature 128 incubators and produce 800,000 poults a week. The $30 million turkey hatchery in western Indiana is located at the Vigo County Industrial Park and covers nearly 118,000ft2 and will employ about 100 workers. Turkey eggs hatched at the

Vital step for Cobb New turkey hatchery New Zealand in South Dakota

The Ministry of Primary Industries A new turkey hatchery at the (MPI) – New Zealand’s public service northeast edge of Beresford will department overseeing farming, provide a closer source of poults for fishing, food and other sectors – turkey farms in South Dakota and recently approved Cobb New throughout the Midwest. Zealand as an Avian Transitional Hendrix Genetics, an animal Facility. breeding company, plans to begin This vital step allows Cobb New operations at the $25 million Zealand to import live poultry and hatchery before the end of the year. poultry hatching eggs from approved The 80,000ft2 facility sits on 15 countries. acres and will have a capacity to With this certificate, Cobb New hatch 30 million turkey eggs annually Zealand will now supply Cobb – more than half a million each genetics to markets like China, week. Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Eggs will be transported to the among others, helping to better facility, then incubated for 28 days. meet the growing demand for Turkeys will be transported to farms chicken in Asia. throughout the Midwest and Canada “With MPI’s certificate of approval the day they hatch. as an Avian Transitional Facility, we With the addition of this new are now one step closer toward facility, turkeys will now be hatched, beginning production in New fed and processed in South Dakota. Zealand,” Pelayo Casanovas, general An estimated 4.2 million turkeys manager of Cobb Asia-Pacific, told are being raised in the state this year, International Hatchery Practice. 2% more than last year, according to Cobb invested nearly $50 million in the USDA’s National Agricultural building the pure-line facility located Statistics Service. near Huntly in New Zealand. Dakota Provisions, a turkey- With the approval of ATF facility processing plant near Huron, from MPI, Cobb New Zealand is processes 200 million pounds of expected to begin the delivery of turkeys annually, producing 60 breeding stock in June 2019. million pounds of turkey meat. cobb-vantress.com hendrix-genetics.com

International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 hatchery news from around the world

Expansion in Thailand

Thai Foods Group Teawsomboonkij, who began (TFG), a leading player operating his first chicken farm with in the integrated food a capacity of 20,000 chickens in the business with facilities in both Lopburi province of Thailand. Thailand and Vietnam, continues to The company developed to expand its chicken production become a multi-livestock business operations. This year TFG has raised that includes a highly effective, Ross welcomed nearly 60 valued customers to its annual its daily processing capacity to vertically integrated poultry supply Ross Asia Training Seminar (RATS) in Bangkok, Thailand. The 600,000 chickens, up from 540,000 chain with breeder facilities, training featured an array of important management topics, in the previous year. hatcheries, feed mills and processing including grandparent-focused best management practices, nutrition, TFG’s Thai Foods Poultry Farm plants. In 2014 TFG converted to a incubation and biosecurity. Students were able to learn from top experts division is to invest in a new broiler public company and changed its in veterinary health and production management from Aviagen and the hatchery in the Sa Kaeo Province, in name to Thai Foods Group Public industry, and were presented with opportunities to share ideas on latest the east of Thailand, about 200km Company Ltd. developments with their industry colleagues. The interactive format of the from Bangkok and near to the “As a major player in the seminar enabled students to gain valuable practical experience in issues Cambodian border. international arena, we are delighted facing the industry today. to have the opportunity to work aviagen.com with Thai Foods Group again,” Bas Kanters, sales director Asia at Pas Reform Technologies, told International Hatchery Practice. summer season with high ambient Rapid development “The current project is a logical temperatures. in Bolivia next step in their aim to grow in the By integrating the cooling system region. Their decision to work with in the cabinet panels, Linco hatchers In line with continuing international Pas Reform for the latest hatchery is have always provided the best expansion, Pas Reform has an important show of confidence in biosecurity and optimal conditions appointed Hilarío Ruiz, founder of Pas Reform has previously our products and in the partnership for the chicks. the specialist veterinary technology equipped three other hatchery we have established with them.” The new Lincool panels are a company Tecnovet, as its distributor projects for TFG. For this new pasreform.com solution that provides more than and representative in Bolivia. In hatchery Pas Reform will install 36 double the cooling capacity, without recent years, Bolivia has experienced SmartSetPro 6 setters with a 115,200 sacrificing easy cleaning and the rapid economic development, and egg-capacity, 36 SmartHatchPro optimal hatcher environment. With most of the population now has hatchers with a 19,200 egg-capacity Increasing hatcher direct cooling transmission through access to good quality protein. This and the SmartCenterPro hatchery cooling capacity the more than 4m2 stainless steel has already boosted the country’s management system to ensure surface, the Lincool panels provide poultry industry development and precise, consistent process control. Increased fertility percentage in sufficient cooling power to handle Pas Reform is playing a major part in Pas Reform will also supply the full older breeder flocks can put even the strongest challenges. this growth. range of hatchery automation pressure on the hatcher cooling Adding cooling in the area behind In 2013 it supplied Bolivia’s most including egg handling, egg candling systems of most hatcheries. the strong centrifugal fans ensures advanced hatchery – a complete, and transfer, washing and waste The embryos of the bigger eggs that the chicks cannot be exposed modular, single stage incubation handling equipment. develop more heat. This was earlier to temperature radiation and the air project for Avicola Sofia, the Headquartered in Ayutthaya, balanced by a lower fertility is effectively mixed before entering country’s largest poultry producer, 100km north of Bangkok, TFG was percentage, but new challenges have the hatcher trays. based in Santa Cruz de la Sierra. founded in 1987 by CEO Winai now appeared, especially in the lincoincubator.com pasreform.com

International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8 33 Diary

2018

Poultry India 28-30th November APPOINTMENTS New Turkish hatchery Hyderabad, India www.poultryindia.co.in

christian jordan Broiler chick producer facilities has doubled our capacity Jamesway Pilyem Tavukçuluk and enabled us to increase our Vice President of Sales and San.Tic.A.S. in Adana, exports by 50%, while also meeting Marketing southern Turkey has invested in Pas higher demand in our home market. 2019 www.jamesway.com Reform’s state-of-the-art, integrated We are planning to grow our hatchery solutions to meet growing company by 8-10% in 2018,” Bilgehan demand in domestic and export told International Hatchery Practice. Fernando Bellod Valle markets. Sake Yalcin is chief executive Petersime Pilyem has set up a new hatchery officer of Refarm AS, Pas Reform’s IPPE Sales Director for Latin America near Adana city centre. It is representative in Turkey. She www.petersime.com equipped with Pas Reform’s Smart- commented: “Refarm and Pilyem 12-14th February SetPro setters and SmartHatchPro have known each other and worked Atlanta, GA, USA Dr Rafael Monleon hatchers, to deliver an annual together for many years. Pilyem is www.ippexpo.com Aviagen capacity of 50 million day-old achieving strong growth and we are Asia Pacific Business Manager chicks. truly proud to be supporting its www.aviagen.com Pilyem CEO Bilgehan Kaplan said ambitious future plans. We look that the new hatchery is helping the forward to working with the Turkey Science and Jean Lebec business to achieve its growth plans.: company and providing ongoing Production Conference “The new investment that we service and support.” 6-8th March Hubbard made in breeding and hatchery pasreform.com Chester, UK Sales Manager www.turkeytimes.co.uk France and Eastern Africa www.hubbardbreeders.com in Bucaramanga began operation to be incubated and killed Paul Janssen with the first installation of 18 immediately after hatching. In Mycotoxins 2019 Chore-Time Europe Platinum 120 incubators in May and Germany alone, around 45 million 12th March the remaining six machines will be male chicks from laying hen breeds Sales Director Bangkok, Thailand installed in the coming year bringing are killed every year. www.positiveaction.co.uk www.choretime.com the total to 24 incubators and 16 Male chicks of these breeds do not hatchers. lay eggs and do not fatten enough Junran Yang The company is the top branded meat. Due to the high costs, the Jamesway poultry company in Colombia with male chicks are often not reared. Director of North APAC Sales an impressive investment in Broiler Breeder 2019 www.jamesway.com improving its distribution, cold chain, 12th March delivery, as well as the company’s Bangkok, Thailand Jimmy Paulakuhn own network of small stores. www.positiveaction.co.uk Perstorp Jamesway has been a partner with Vice President for Feed & Food Avidesa since 2016. “It is an honour in North & Central America that one of the top companies in www.perstorp.com Latin America chose the Platinum 2.0 VIV Asia single-stage incubation system for 13-15th March Dr Jesus Campa their new hatcheries,” Dr Jesus Bangkok, Thailand Jamesway Campa, Jamesway’s Director of Sales www.vivasia.nl Director of Latin America for Latin America, told International and Spain, Sales Hatchery Practice. www.jamesway.com The hatcheries are expected to “Throughout next year, customers have a combined output of will be able to buy the so-called Fieravicola 80,510,976 chicks per year. free-range respeggt-eggs gradually 27-29th March jamesway.com throughout Germany,” Jan Kunath, Forli, Italy Hatchery solutions the Deputy Chief Executive Officer in Colombia of REWE Group, told International www.fieravicola.com Hatchery Practice. Planta Zaragoza and Planta Hatching egg At the same time, SELEGGT is Bacaramanga are two new Avidesa gender identification developing a business model to hatcheries that have recently begun make the technology available to the 6th Conference on Poultry operation using hatchery solutions SELEGGT, a joint venture between industry as a cost-neutral service. Intestinal Health from North America’s Jamesway HatchTech, German supermarket The patented process will be 3-5th April Incubator Company. chain REWE and the University of available to the first hatcheries from Rome, Italy The hatcheries are in El Valle and Leipzig, have developed a market- 2020. www.ihsig.com the Santander area. The first, Avidesa ready method for gender Through intensive research and Mac Pollo Hatchery in Zaragoza, identification in hatching eggs. technological development, began operations in 2016 with 12 It is now possible to identify the HatchTech has played a key role in Platinum 120 incubators and 16 gender of the chicks in the hatching bringing this innovative approach to VIV Russia Platinum 40 hatchers. egg through a needle-tip tiny hole. market. 28-30th May The second, Avidesa de Occidente, Male hatching eggs no longer need hatchtech.nl Moscow, Russia www.vivrussia.nl 34 International Hatchery Practice • Volume 32 Number 8