We’re proud to share that our PhD candidate Anne Pennings has published her first paper in Poultry Science Association: “Effects of hatching egg storage duration and warming rate from storage to incubation temperature on morphological broiler embryo development.” Anne studied how different egg storage durations (4 or 14 days) and warming rates (10 hours, 24 hours, or SetCare) affect embryo development and hatchability in broilers.
Her key findings:
Eggs stored for 14 days showed slower embryonic development compared to those stored for only 4 days, confirming why chicks from long-stored eggs often hatch later in practice.
• SetCare allowed embryos from both short- and long-stored eggs to hatch at the same time and produced longer chicks at hatch. This suggests that SetCare helps delayed embryos “catch up” before incubation starts.
• The slower the warming rate, the more advanced the embryos were once incubation temperature was reached, but remarkably, they all grew at the same rate during incubation.
• In short-stored eggs, hatchability improved from 93.6% (10-hour warming rate) to 96.0% (SetCare), while warming rate had no effect in long-stored eggs.
A step forward in understanding pre-incubation conditions
A great step forward in understanding how pre-incubation conditions shape chick development, and a wonderful milestone for Anne! We’re excited to see what her next studies will bring. You can find here full article here
