CO2NTROLTM (a real-time CO2 management device) controls the CO2 level in the setters, which has a beneficial effect on the development of blood vessels and embryo growth and works hand in hand with the DWLSTM principle which emulates much closer the natural incubation conditions experienced by the egg in the nest. In addition, precisely timed CO2 stimulation in hatchers leads to simultaneous pipping and hatching as well as improved chick quality.
Post-hatch performance improved as well
Reduced post-hatch mortality: -0.23% (average). Enhanced post-hatch growth: 64 g per 39.4 days (average). Improved feed conversion rate: average -0.019 (average). Improved meat yield: 1.2% of slaughter weight (estimated 0.9% of live weight).
gms
Depressed Growth
First chick
Last chick
Hatch Window
Time
Synchronised Hatch
With a series of field tests (over 2.5 million eggs in total) in a commercially-integrated site, the non-linear weight-loss method clearly and consistently induced a pattern of initially depressed growth, followed by a catching-up or compensatory post-hatch growth (see Figure 3). This pattern leads to an overall gain in end weight, meat yield and feed conversion rate, as well as lower post-hatch mortality. The following results were observed: • • • •
Number of chicks hatching
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Fig. 4 - Synchro-Hatch™ narrows the hatch window.
Extensive in-house trials and research in commercial hatcheries show that day-old chicks • are significantly more uniform, • are generally calm, but active and responsive when stimulated, • have a stronger and more robust appearance, • higher body weight, • better feed conversion ratios, • lower postnatal mortality rates, • better efficiency in slaughterhouses, • total higher meat output in the end.
Followed by period of “Catching up” or compensatory growth
Fig. 3 - Enhanced growth compensates for the initially depressed post-hatch growth, leading to an overall gain in end weight, meat yield and FCR. Fig. 5 - Synchro-Hatch™ lowers overall post-hatch mortality of chicks in farms
Narrowing the hatch window and improving chick quality
How does Synchro-Hatch™ work? Working with world-renowned universities, Petersime is continuously searching for ways to optimize other promising embryo-response parameters and further optimize the incubation profile. An approach that has resulted in the recent addition to the Petersime embryo response control parameter Synchro-HatchTM. A system that further emulates the nest interaction between parent bird and the hatching egg by sensing the point at which the chick moves towards the air cell and ultimately externally pipping and escaping the confines of the shell and achieving full lung action.
Synchro-Hatch™ gives the embryos the same signals and stimuli as it would experience from the attentive mother bird in nature and offers optimal hatching conditions. In nature, the parent bird does not sit back and watch the hatch happen. She intervenes and interacts during the entire process. During the hatching phase, she returns to the nest and sits on the eggs for the majority of the time to guide the chicks to hatch. This affects the rate of gas diffusion, the moisture exchange and the heat dissipation during the four stages of hatch.
The results of working with new technologies are significant. Synchro-Hatch™ reduces the hatch window with four to six hours. The narrower the hatch window, the more uniform chicks are, enhancing both productivity and welfare.
It is wrong to say that Synchro-Hatch™ delays and/or forces the hatch to occur. Correct is to say that Synchro-Hatch™ gives the encapsulated chick the same signals and stimuli and guides the chicks in the same way as it would naturally expect in the
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