The effect of post-hatch feed on chick development

R. Molenaar*, L. der Kinderen‡, R. Meijerhof*, H. van den Brand‡

*HatchTech BV, Veenendaal, The Netherlands; ‡Adaptation Physiology Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands

In practice access to feed for day-old chicks is delayed, due to variation in hatch time, hatchery management and transport time. Early feeding seems beneficial for chick development, but the relation between diet composition and post-hatch development is hardly known. This study evaluates the effect of different feed types on chick development.

420 day-old chicks were randomly assigned to 7 treatments: no feed, dextrose, boiled eggwhite, mixture of 50% boiled egg-white and 50% dextrose, oat hulls and 2 commercial products. All fed chicks received 5 gram of feed per bird per day, without additional water, till 3 days posthatch. Twenty chicks per day were evaluated on chick length, body weight, intestine length, residual yolk, heart, spleen, liver and bursa of Fabricius till 3 days post-hatch.