Getting to the bottom of sex-related first week mortality in the hatchery
"Why are so many chicks dying in their first week in the hatchery?" I could hear the worry in his voice when I received...
Best practice in egg production
How robust management and proactive measures can drive best practice for egg production on poultry farms.
In partnership with Cobb, this article examines best practice...
Broiler breeders are calmer when fed twice a day
Broiler breeders which are fed twice a day display less foraging and pecking behaviour and more eating and resting behaviour. Furthermore, some birds even...
Effect of the type of diet and the addition of humic substances as growth...
In recent years, humic substances have been tested as growth promoters in animal production and are one of the promising options to face the...
Water quality guidelines for turkeys
Turkeys typically consume twice as much water as feed, so it is important to provide a clean, healthy water supply. Water not only serves...
Biological control of Salmonella in the poultry industry: a European perspective
Salmonella remains one of the most important foodborne bacterial pathogens worldwide, and is frequently linked with the consumption of contaminated poultry meat and eggs....
Dietary xylanase improves growth performance and cost savings in broiler chickens fed a corn-soybean...
The increased demand to reduce production costs, as well as concerns about the environment, have resulted in pressure on poultry producers to increase dietary...
Infectious bursal disease viruses may swap genetic material during infection
Live cell imaging has been used by researchers at The Pirbright Institute to reveal new information about how different strains of infectious bursal disease virus...
In-ovo corticosterone alters body composition in 35 day old chi-cken meat birds
Increasing evidence suggests early-life exposure to maternal stress can permanently alter thedevelopment of an embryo. Such findings have significant application to the chicken meat...
Prevention of cross-contamination in the hatchery
How to properly prevent cross-contamination in the hatchery. Here some easy steps to achieve a better biosecurity in your hatchery.
Investigation of nutritional diseases at the veterinary diagnostic lab
Here below the role the veterinary diagnostic laboratory can play in helping to confirm nutritional diseases in a flock has been described. Regardless issues...
Effects of probiotic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens H57 on performance and intestinal microbiota of chickens
Probiotics (direct fed microbials) are a potential alternative to antibiotic growth promoters for improving animal production and preventing enteric pathogen infections. The Authors are...
Low protein diets in broilers
Some recent research at the Arkansas Agriculture Experiment Station Poultry Research Farm has been focused on low protein diets in broilers. Many nutritionists rely...
Laying hen nutrition for optimizing egg production and quality
Hen nutrition is important; during the initial period of pullet rearing (<45 days of age), small particle size obtained by grinding of main cereals...
Targeted approaches to achieving good litter quality
Turkeys spend their life in close contact with litter material. The aim is to establish and maintain good, dry litter conditions and an environment...
Brooding
Getting chicks off to a good start is very important to overall flock performance. At no time does a bird grow faster than during...
Raising Pullets in Alternative Systems
Productive and profitable layers begin with good quality pullets. Having the correct body weight and body type at the start of egg production will...
Priming young birds for gut health and resilience
This brief review focuses on the types of fibre that the nutritionist should be considering and how a phase feeding strategy should not only...
Maintaining hatching egg quality through good hygiene and handling
The microbiological status of a hatching egg is highest immediately after the egg is laid. The objective, therefore, is to ensure that quality is...
Best practice in feed management
How innovative thinking and a proactive approach can ensure best practice with feed on broiler farms
In partnership with Cobb, this article examines best practice...
Management of slow growing broilers for profit
Chicken is consumed in larger quantities than either beef or pork largely due to its relatively low fat and high protein content when compared...
Marel Poultry: Unrivalled reliability at all-time high speed
Marel Poultry is taking into account the fast growing and urbanizing world population, the production of poultry meat is expected to increase considerably. Processing...
Fear in turkeys, implications for productivity and wellbeing
From an evolutionary standpoint, fear is an adaptive response that promotes survival by enabling animals to avoid injury and death. Because of the important impact that fear has on animal well-being, fear has formed the basis of many scientific studies and is included as part of welfare assessment programs such as the Welfare Quality Assessment Protocol for poultry.
Ventilation in the setter – Which is the dominant element for ventilation control: CO2...
Single-stage versus multi-stage
During the past decades, single-stage incubation has gained popularity and eventually replaced multi-stage incubation as the dominant incubation method. This is not...
Feed borne mycotoxins: the threat to poultry?
Mycotoxins are metabolites produced by molds (fungi) that can infest crops pre-harvest and can continue to flourish under sub-optimal storage conditions. Grains with high...
Reducing water usage in turkey processing
Virginia Poultry recently installed several liquid/solids separation screens for reducing water usage in its turkey feather and offal processing. The two new primary and...
Boosting the cell-mediated immunity in chickens post-hatch via pre-hatch delivery of nucleic acids
Respiratory virus infections such as Avian Influenza, infectious laryngotracheitis and infectious bronchitis lead to high morbidity and mortality in chickens globally.
Given the limitations...
Biosecurity, the basics
By biosecurity we mean those measures aimed at reducing the risk of introducing and spreading infectious agents on farms, i.e. bio-exclusion and bio-containment measures.
Luigi...
Mycotoxins in turkeys
Toxin production requires the presence of a mould, a suitable substrate and a suitable environment. If a mould is present, toxin production is influenced...
A more sustainable poultry production
Researchers must find other approaches to food production and processing - and in particular for poultry production - using new technologies in conjunction with...
Two critical points in the rearing of Hubbard premium pullets
Achieving good uniformity is not the biggest challenge during the rearing period of Hubbard Premium breeder females. Because they take a fairly long time...
Navel practicalities
A well-closed navel is one of the most important and easily visible signs of chick quality. In a good quality chick, the navel is...
What happens during transfer?
Why chicks can’t set and hatch in the same incubator and need transfer.
At the point chicks hatch, they create a lot of fluff and...
Light intensity and led lights
Light intensity can be measured in three ways: luminous intensity, luminous flux and luminous power. Led Lights are here analyzed.
Luminous flux is the total...
Maternal stress, the potential impact on broiler breeders and subsequent chick development
Managing stress in broiler breeders has been a continual topic of discussion since the early 1980’s, but our understanding of stress and its influence...
Checking and calibrating sensors: essential preventive hatchery maintenance
We expect incubators to function 24/7 without disruption - and with the highest levels of accuracy from the sensors in particular, on whose outputs...
Management of ectoparasites in cage-free housing systems
As cage-free systems become more frequent in poultry production, we are forced to evaluate how pest control measures should adapt to ensure efficacy.
The...
Ventilation and heating issues during cold weather
Many problems during cool and cold weather can be traced to inappropriate ventilation rates. Poor broiler health, respiratory problems, and breast blisters are common...
SPIDES, short periods of incubation during egg storage
Why SPIDES is so important in incubation? If hatching eggs are stored for more than a week before being set in an incubator their...
Targeted preharvest interventions against Salmonella in turkeys
Salmonella is a foodborne zoonotic pathogen prevalent in poultry production, including turkeys. The pathogen is a constant threat to human public health because of...
Timing is everything in early feeding
Early feeding is now a critical point. When using nature as a reference to what are the optimum requirements of the day-old chick, we...
Feather-eating hens show specific essential amino acid appetites in a double-choice model
Nutritional balance is one of the major considerations to prevent severe feather pecking in layer hens. Individual variation in digestive and metabolic efficiencies and...
Breeding for robustness in turkeys
Turkey breeders have invested in selection methodologies to ensure the commercial cross is capable of delivering outstanding performance with good welfare under a variety...
How an automatic flushing system can reduce the use of antibiotics
Consumers worldwide start to worry about the use of antibiotics in livestock production and their effect on human health. Antibiotic-free chicken is increasingly becoming...
Short chain fatty acids and poultry gut health
Due to customer demands, producers have been asked to change the way they grow production animals, specifically through the removal of antibiotics. With this...
Research provides new understanding of ILT vaccines
USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation announce the completion of a funded research project at the University of Delaware in Newark, Delaware, in which researchers...
Coccidiosis control in broiler breeders with the use of vaccines by Aviagen®
Coccidiosis is a disease of the intestinal lining, produced by the invasion of the mucosal cells by a very prolific protozoan parasite of the...
Sentinel Birds: An old strategy that can enhance current diagnostic tools
The use of sentinel birds such as specific-pathogen-free (SPF) leghorns has been used extensively to learn about local presence of pathogens in farms, either...
How Early Rearing Environments Shape Laying Hen Performance and Welfare
Successful egg production in table-egg laying hens relies on proper caretaking during the lay phase, yet early rearing is also paramount to achieve performance...
Consequences of outdoor ranging on external and inter-nal health parameters of hens from different...
Free-range layer pullets are typically reared indoors within Australia, but adult layers go outdoors which might cause poorer adaptation due to the mismatch between...
Nutritional strategies against pathogens in poultry
Salmonella Enteritidis and Campylobacter jejuni are the two major foodborne pathogens transmitted through poultry products. Since chickens are the reservoir hosts of these pathogens,...
Testing the fertility is important to predict hatching success
Measuring the level of fertility of any batch of eggs is a key factor in hatcheries. Fertility testing may be necessary in order to...
Housing systems in laying hen husbandry – second part
A status report
This analysis is an abridged version of a report which the Author prepared for the International Egg Commission (IEC) in London, UK.
In...
Research shows how Infectious Laryngotracheitis can spread from vaccinated flocks
The research on how Infectious Laryngotracheitis can spread from vaccinated flocks was made possible in part by an endowing Foundation gift from Claxton Poultry...
Marel unlocks new profitable opportunities for convenience poultry production
RevoPortioner with Helix Drum, Active Batter Applicator and RevoCrumb by Marel.
By combining innovative technologies for portioning, batter and crumb, unlocks new profitable opportunities for convenience...
Windrowing properly done
Windrowing litter between flocks has been used commercially since the 1980’s and continues to evolve to meet numerous production challenges. The goal is to...
Holistic view of intestinal health in poultry
Intestinal health is necessary to maintain efficient and sustainable gastrointestinal tract (GIT) physiology. The GIT has digestive, absorptive, metabolic, immunological and endocrinological functions.
This means...
Rethink the golden rules of incubation
Your incubation results might be affected by a lack of accuracy in the rules you’re applying. The rules of incubation have been derived from...
Quick molt diets and programs
Induced molting is a process conducted by many commercial egg producers to extend the productive life of the laying hen. The main objective of...
Enhancing turkey welfare one step at a time
Researchers of Wageningen Livestock Research have been able to define when a turkey takes a step. This is an important milestone to automating gait...
Isolation, bioactivity and applications of sulfated polysaccharides from poultry by-products
The broiler chicken meat processing industry produces a large amount of poultry byproducts rich in connective tissue (i.e. keel cartilage, skin, and bone residues),...
Managing feed withdrawal with food safety and carcass yield in mind
The feed withdrawal program aims at minimizing the occurrence of fecal contamination at plant, thus shielding the products’ safety. It happens that while off...
Use of comparative genomics to identify vaccine candidates for Campylobacter Jejuni
Interventions to control and reduce the incidence of Campylobacter jejuni colonization in poultry is important in order to reduce the burden of foodborne illness in humans....
New applications such as superdosing of phytase to maximize phytate destruction to improve performance...
It is well documented that phytase supplementation in broiler diets improves P and Ca utilization through the destruction of phytate (IP6) and thereby allows...
Controlling water temperature during brooding
Though there is a wide range of opinions on the optimal drinking water temperature for young chicks, the fact is farm managers actually have...
Enumeration of Ascaridia Galli eggs in chicken excreta
Excreta counting techniques in eggs can provide valuable information for assessing flock infection levels, selecting nematode resistant chicken breeds and for determining anthelmintic efficacy.
Although...
Energy-efficiency in pre-conditioning inlet air for setters and hatchers
Hatcheries are found in a variety of climates, from the hot, humid tropics of South East Asia to hot, arid zones in the Middle...
Improving poultry products safety
The research is part of the Association’s comprehensive research program encompassing all phases of poultry and egg production and processing.
Dr. Hong Zhuang at...
Managing CO2 and fresh air to optimise hatchability
Last year I was invited to a layer hatchery that was reporting slightly lower hatchability than its sister hatcheries, despite using eggs from the...
When the hatchery power supply fails
In a contemporary hatchery all the parameters influencing incubation – such as temperature, humidity, ventilation and the turning of eggs – are based on...
Informative Processing School in Malaysia
A highly successful four-day processing school was held in Malaysia for Aviagen® personnel to improve their knowledge and understanding of the impact of the...
Comparison of wheat and maize-based diets on growth performance and meat quality of broiler...
Maize and wheat are a major source of energy in broiler diets. Generally, wheat-based diets are offered to broiler chickens in Europe, Australia and...
Global phosphorus scarcity
Phosphorus scarcity is a serious threat to food security. Recent studies indicate that phosphorus demand could outstrip finite supplies of high quality phosphatesometime between 2025-2084 if no fundamental changes are made to the current trajectory.
Poultry processing ergonomics
No matter the degree of automation of any given poultry processing plant! There will always be a need for laborers, yet just a few...
To feed or not to feed? That is the question. Is the early feeding...
Development of the avian embryo, or chick, can be categorized into one of two strategies designed to meet very different physiological and biological needs....
Calcium nutrition, bone metabolism, and eggshell quality in longer-persisting layers
As regard layers management, rather than being depopulated at 60 to 70 weeks of age, or being moulted to allow for additional production cycles,...
Avicola Yugoslavia broiler hatchery is first in Peru to adopt SmartPro™
Avicola Yugoslavia, based in Trujillo, Peru, is the first broiler hatchery in Peru to work with SmartPro™ incubation solutions from Royal Pas Reform –...
Major histocompatibility complex and genetic resistance to Infectious Bronchitis Virus
Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) is an endemic disease of chickens responsible for considerable economic losses to the poultry industry worldwide. IBV replication leads to...
Comparing two ELISA kits
Here a comparison of two ELISA kits as been made to assess their efficicacy.
Recombinant turkey herpesvirus vaccines (rHVT) are being widely used for...
Carcass picking: removing the feathers and protecting the quality
The poultry feathers are non-edible and need to be thoroughly removed during processing. The defeathering consists of moving the carcasses along the picking line...
