Hatcher baskets After candling and vaccination, the good eggs are carefully transferred to hatcher baskets. Maintain a high level of hygiene during the entire transfer process. The hatcher must be dry and pre-warmed, to avoid the eggs getting too cold. This will otherwise cause delayed hatching and reduced hatchability.
Did you know? Sometimes hatcheries work based on kilograms of eggs per hatcher basket and others use the number of eggs in each basket. A hundred heavy eggs release much more heat than the same number of light ones....
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Some hatcheries use paper in the baskets to prevent soiling of eggs and chicks, but often to mask poor egg quality. Paper can obstruct the airflow, so more eggs will become overheated in some places.
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Different hatcher baskets
Hatcher baskets with loose eggs.
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The eggs are in fixed positions. After hatching, the chicks drop to the lowest level. The empty eggshells remain in the upper level.
After candling, the good hatching eggs are placed in the hatcher baskets. Some machines can be set to ensure optimal hatcher basket filling. Usually, the eggs from a setter tray (150) are divided between two hatcher baskets (left). If you have a larger hatcher basket (right), it can be filled with the entire content of a setter tray. If there are less fertile eggs in a batch, other hatching eggs are often added to ensure the hatcher baskets are filled optimally.
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