Unhatched eggs/dead in shell
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To intervene or not to intervene?
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Pipping is tiring for a chick. Chicks that cannot pip their way out of the eggshell are often weak, otherwise they would be capable of breaking through themselves. It is better not to intervene, because these weak chicks will often die in the poultry house anyway.
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In general, 2-3% loss occurs during the last phase in the hatcher. These eggs are referred to as unhatched eggs. Most candling machines (except heartbeat detection methods) do not identify embryos that died after day 12 and leave them in the tray. Perform a regular breakout analysis to assess when these embryos died. The most important conclusion you can make is whether weight loss (which should be 11-12% on day 18) was insufficient (wet embryo, visible albumen residue). If the weight loss was insufficient, a lot of the chicks that did hatch will have a poorly sealed navel and an oversized yolk sac. Late mortality can be caused by factors such as insufficient moisture loss, changes in the respiratory system, position changes, pipping, and hatching. But transfer damage and genetic defects play a role too. It is important to identify the causes of late mortalities. This allows you to evaluate the incubation process and take corrective or preventive measures with the next batch.
A hatcher basket after pulling and taking out the live chicks. It contains: • whole eggs • incompletely hatched eggs • dead chicks
In a traditional hatcher basket, the chicks remain among the eggshells and the non-pipped eggs until pull time. In other types of hatcher baskets, the chicks are separated from the eggshell residue immediately after hatching. The chicks are often taken out manually.
Fluff removal using an exhaust system above and at the sides of the hatcher baskets.
Here, the chicks drop between the bars. The eggshells stay on the bars and are removed. Loose down and eggshell particles are removed by suction. So, inspect the batch for unhatched eggs and empty eggshells before these residues are separated.
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