Long transport times for HatchCare chicks: a cause for concern?

The majority of day-old-chicks have to be transported for prolonged periods of time from the hatchery to reach the poultry house and have access to feed and water. It is sometimes suggested that a prolonged period of time without feed and water is more detrimental to the health and performance of chicks that had received early feeding and water between hatching and pull than for traditional chicks. This implies that it is better not to provide early feeding and water to chicks that are likely to spend a long time in transport. However, little data is available on the true effect of prolonged transport times after early feeding and water on health and performance, and whether a prolonged transport duration without feed and water is more detrimental to early fed and watered chicks than to traditional chicks.

HatchTech’s Research team designed an experiment to study the effect of a short or long period without feed and water after pull on the performance of broilers that had received early feeding and water or were deprived in the hatchery. Download this article to read the results of this experiment.