Hatchbrood: a tool to reduce antibiotic usage in poultry

Antibiotic usage is high in the poultry industry in the Netherlands and needs to be reduced by 50% in 2013 to prevent the growing resistance to antibiotics of disease-causing bacteria in humans. To reduce antibiotic usage, optimal management of the environment of chickens is important, especially directly after hatch.

Although the chicken is anatomically complete at hatch, maturation of different regulatory systems occurs during the first four days of the chicken’s life (the early brooding period). During this period, chickens are unable to regulate their own body temperature. Their body temperature depends on the environment but is optimal between 40.0-40.6°C and this is often difficult to achieve at a broiler farm. Low body temperatures caused by a cold floor are often found in practice and negatively affect the development of young chickens. A suboptimal brooding environment results in delayed chicken development such as the intestinal and immune function, a lower uniformity in body weight, and a higher mortality rate. Furthermore, antibiotic usage can be increased as well. HatchBrood is a system that is designed to control the environment of the first days of a chicken’s life. Download the entire article via the button below.