The Road to SetCare

20 years of research on the optimal start of incubation

Dr. Jan Wijnen and Anne Pennings, PhD

Even the top 25% best-performing hatcheries experience a relatively high rate of early embryonic mortality: 4.4% out of the total 8.8% losses occur in the early stage. Despite its significant impact on overall hatchability, this loss is still widely accepted within the industry based on the assumption that early-stage embryos are inherently vulnerable.

Already over 20 years ago, HatchTech challenged this assumption. HatchTech researchers investigated the effects of different prewarming eggshell temperature (EST) patterns on early embryonic mortality. Three main findings were established:

1. Embryos do not (morphologically) develop below 29.4°C EST
2. The rate of warming from storage temperature to 29.4°C EST is irrelevant
3. Linearly warming eggs from 29.4°C EST to incubation temperature (37.8°C EST) in 17 hours significantly reduced the percentage of early deaths compared to more rapid warming profiles

 

Based on these findings, HatchTech introduced its patented Uniform Embryo Activator (UEA) in 2011, enabling a controlled, gradual linear warming of hatching eggs over a total pre-warming duration of 22 hours, including 5 hours from storage to 29.4°C EST.

As a result, HatchTech customers report an average 1.2% increase in hatchability. 

Key findings from Project SetCare
Building on this principle, Project SetCare was initiated to further explore the optimal warming rate from storage to incubation temperature. This research program consisted of 13 consecutive studies conducted over a 3-year period (2021–2023).

The studies showed that the optimum warming duration is 6 days instead of the few hours traditionally applied in hatcheries. For long-stored eggs, early embryonic mortality could be reduced by up to 21.8% compared to conventional incubation technology.

In addition, gradually warmed eggs often resulted in fewer unhatched eggs at pull, indicating that embryo mortality was not simply postponed.

The key finding of Project SetCare is that embryonic development starts well below conventional incubation temperature (100°F) and benefits from extended, gradual warming. During this phase, embryos already develop critical structures such as the primitive streak, somites, brain, and beating heart.

This controlled warming improves embryo viability and development throughout incubation, translating into measurable performance gains:

• Lower embryo mortality
• +3.3% more first-grade chicks
• Up to 1.8-point FCR improvement

For long-stored eggs, this results in improved chick quality, +10% uniformity, and higher slaughter weights (+51 g). For short-stored eggs, it reduces embryo mortality and increases hatchability, leading to better chick quality and uniformity.

Together, these gains enable hatcheries to achieve the same output with 3.82% fewer eggs set, increasing efficiency and reducing costs.

Figure 1. Weekly body weight (BW) of broiler chickens after using a conventional setter system or SetCare. The asterisks (*) indicate significant differences.

A new standard in incubation: SetCare

These insights fundamentally changed how the start of incubation should be approached and led to the development of SetCare. This setter system gradually warms hatching eggs over a period of 6 days, from storage temperature to incubation temperature.

During this extended warming phase, embryonic development already begins, effectively shifting the biological starting point of incubation forward. As a result, although the warming phase takes six days, only three additional days of incubation are required.

Prewarming becomes an integral part of the incubation process rather than a preparatory step, leading to a total incubation duration of 24 days.

In addition to gradual warming, SetCare is equipped with several technical enhancements, such as gas-sealed doors inside the window frame enabling a natural increase in both relative humidity and CO₂ levels during gradual warming. Each setter trolley is equipped with its own climate sensor, allowing incubation conditions to be monitored and controlled individually. Laminar airflow ensures optimal conditions for every trolley. An autofan function controls the optimal fan speed, preventing overheating during very gradual warming caused by friction heat from the fan.

Furthermore, SetCare has been designed to eliminate hard-to-clean areas and incorporates continuous environmental hygiene measures that help maintain a clean incubation environment throughout the incubation process. In addition, the system incorporates a fully automated SPIDES function and several user-focused design improvements, including simplified software with reduced input complexity and a less error-prone setup, as well as a more accessible machine layout that facilitates maintenance and reduces part variability. Further details on these features are described in the full research report.

Conclusion

In conclusion, gradual warming forms the foundation for improving embryonic viability and incubation efficiency. SetCare builds on this principle through precise environmental control and system design, delivering more uniform conditions and improved hatch results, chick quality, and downstream performance. To learn more about the science behind SetCare and explore the complete research findings, download the full research report below or contact one of our experts.