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January - Vaccination Against Newcastle Disease In the Hatcheries



Newcastle Disease (ND) is a highly contagious disease which varies widely in the type and severity of symptoms. It is one of the main barriers for international trade of poultry and poultry products and the global impact of virulent ND is enormous. In Asia, this disease is endemic and its prevention constantly challenges even very experienced veterinarians.

Vaccination has an important role in the prevention of ND even though an ideal vaccination program can not be easily given as it would depend on level of challenge in the field, disease control polices in the country, type of birds (broilers or layers), vaccine strain, size of the flock, past performance of vaccination programs etc. However, the vaccination in the hatcheries has been used throughout the world in broilers, layers and breeders.

March - Sanitary Management of the Hatching Eggs



Unquestionably, the sanitary quality of the hatching eggs will affect the quality of the day-old chicks. The egg leaves the oviduct free of any microorganisms (except for vertically-transmitted pathologies), but even eggs which are laid « clean » present a wide diversity of bacteria on the shell. Furthermore, after being laid, the egg’s temperature drops (from 41 to 21°C), which causes embryonic development to be suspended, but also egg contents to contract, thereby creating an aspiration effect of the germs present on the eggshell surface, an effect made even easier by the fact that the cuticle is still wet.

It is therefore very important to bear in mind that eggs are sanitarily fragile, thus special procedures have to be implemented, from the breeding farms up to the hatcheries, to ensure it.

May - The Day-Old Chick: A Crucial Hinge Between Breeders and Broilers



The quality of the day-old broiler chick is foremost in the minds of many poultry managers. From fertilised ovum to the placement at the broiler farm, some factors such as the characteristics of the incubating eggs, the egg holding conditions, the incubation conditions and the conditions that exist between hatching and placement at the farm and their interactions may affect chick quality. It may be questioned if maximal hatchability is the best indicator for considered a prerequisite for successful incubation. The environmental conditions during incubation (e.g. the temperature, humidity and ventilation rate (carbon dioxide concentration)) are not set independently from each other, although each may have its own optimum for hatchability and chick quality. These optima for each incubation factor may alter differentially according to the characteristics of the incubating egg. It is concluded that more independent control as well as more control of the variability of the classical physical conditions in the incubator are required in order to improve hatchability and chick quality.

July - Spray Vaccination: What Happens During and After this Procedure



Spray vaccination can be defined as the method for administration of the live vaccines (dissolved in water), in the form of droplets, through the air to the birds’ target cells (Jorna, A., personal communication). It is considered the most efficient route for massive vaccination against ND and IB as it triggers local immunity in the respiratory tract. Moreover, as the respiratory tract is the main site of entry of NDV and IBV, local immediate immune mechanisms therefore form a first line of defence against these infections. Besides that, spray vaccination also induces humoral immune response.

This method of vaccination can be done either in the hatchery with cabinet sprayers or at the farms with different kinds of equipments and it allows the vaccination of a large number of birds in a short period of time with low cost. Nevertheless, it is not always synonymous of efficacy as it can lead to vaccination failures (uneven uptake) and/or development of Post- Vaccination Reactions (PVR) if it is not properly managed.

In order to reach the desirable results with the spray process, it is important to consider some key points as the formation of the droplets and the target to be reached (respiratory or digestive tract). Therefore, the objective of this article is to describe the events that happen during the spray vaccination and moments after this procedure, in order to better understand it and consequently improve its results.

September - Embryo Diagnosis, An Important Tool to Help the Hatchery Manager


Chick quality is the first criterion for assessing a hatchery’s quality of work, and is determined by distinguishing between marketable and unmarketable chicks. When necessary, a quality score can be determined using specific assessment charts. Although rarely routinely done, unhatched eggs may also be checked. Embryo diagnosis is a technique which consists in opening unhatched eggs to determine the moment embryonic development stopped and, if possible, identify the cause.

Whatever the results from these assessments, it should be remembered that they include factors that are entirely controlled by the hatchery, namely the breeders’ statuses and the on-farm sorting strictness. This is why it is important to regularly check eggs coming from each of the breeder flocks so as to prepare incubation correctly, ensure performance traceability, but also identify external dysfunction causes as early as possible.

Weekly records should be communicated to farmers along with their comparison to the hatchery’s mean and their evolution. The objectivity of the results makes it possible to initiate a constructive debate between the hatchery manager and the production manager.

November - Incubation and Hatching Process, Main Factors Affecting the Hatchability


Artificial incubation was developed with the main objectives to recreate the temperature and relative humidity close to the natural conditions. By allowing mass production of chicks, artificial incubation has greatly contributed to the rapid expansion of poultry industry.

Moreover, it has also kept the pace with technical progress. The genetic improvements that have been achieved for the past 30 years have reduced the time required for producing a 2-kilogram chicken by over a factor 2. This progress was accompanied by changes in chick embryology, including particularly the emergence of highly exothermic breeds.