Managing early life environment: on-farm hatching

By Shawna Weimer - Ingrid de Jong and Mona Giersberg have published recent research findings from experiments conducted in The Netherlands on the effects of conventional versus on-farm hatching on the behavior, welfare, and performance of broiler chickens.

The experiment was carried out at an experimental research farm in Belgium during 3 successive production cycles on a total of 27,780 Ross 308 broilers. Conventional broiler chicks were hatched at a commercial hatchery and transported to the experimental farm on day 0 to 3 post-hatch. On-farm hatched chick eggs were moved on embryonic day 18 from hatchery incubators to the on-farm hatchers (manufactured by X-treck) within the grow out house.

Dr. de Jong published the welfare, health, and performance data in Poultry Science.
Major findings indicated that, compared to conventionally hatched broilers, on-farm hatched broilers had:

• Worse chick quality (red hocks and less healed navels)
• Heavier body weights until day 21
• Lower total mortality (by 0.6%)
• A tendency for lower foot pad dermatitis scores (smaller lesions, likely due to lower litter moisture)

Dr. Giersberg published the fear and behavior data in Applied Animal Behaviour Science.
Major findings indicated that, compared to conventionally hatched broilers, on-farm hatched broilers:

• Performed more 'disturbance behaviors' (i.e. pushing or overrunning another chicken).
• Appeared more fearful and less active during fear tests (human approach and novel object).

These results indicate that more research is needed to determine the benefits and challenges of on-farm hatching on bird behavior and welfare before best management practices can be provided to commercial broiler farmers.

Links to the full papers are below:
​Effects of on-farm and traditional hatching on welfare, health, and performance of broiler chickens. (Poultry Science open access)
Comparative assessment of general behaviour and fear-related responses in hatchery-hatched and on-farm hatched broiler chickens. (Applied Animal Behaviour Science open access)