Posthatch: prevent dehydration by body temperature control

Dr. Inge van Roovert-Reijrink M.Sc.

During the last decades commercial hatcheries mainly focused on maximum hatchability. However, the quality of the day-old chickens becomes also more and more important. To obtain and maintain maximum chick quality, the environmental conditions after hatch are as crucial as the environmental conditions before hatch. From hatch until arrival at the farm, chickens do not have access to feed and water. The time period that chickens have no access to feed and water can increase up to 72 hours.

From hatch until arrival at the farm, chickens do not have access to feed and water. The time period that chickens have no access to feed and water can increase up to 72 hours. Reasons for this long time period is the variation in time of hatching; the hatch window, plus time needed for chick handling, storage, and transport to the farm. It is known that withholding of feed and water is detrimental for chick quality. One reason for this detrimental effect is the chance that chickens get dehydrated in the period that they do not have access to water. Dehydration caused by excessive water loss, which can be determined by measuring body weight loss, can increase mortality or can negatively affect later performance. It is, therefore, important to prevent dehydration of the chickens after hatch.

To prevent dehydration, it is important to know which environmental factors influence body weight loss of the chickens. During incubation, relative humidity and eggshell temperature affect egg weight loss. To investigate whether the relative humidity and body temperature also influence body weight loss after hatch, the Research Department of HatchTech performed an experiment.