Poultry encyclopedia · NEXTEKCI School · Trades and the poultry industry
The hatchery: the work of hatching
The hatchery turns hatching eggs into day-old chicks. Receiving and storing eggs, incubation, hatching, grading and preparing chicks: each step requires precision, hygiene and consistency, because chick quality shapes the whole life of the flock.
Key facts
- Raw material
- Clean hatching eggs of known origin
- Steps
- Storage, incubation, hatching, grading, dispatch
- Requirements
- Strict hygiene, control of temperature and humidity
- Framework
- Activity subject to official approval
Receiving and storing hatching eggs
A hatching egg is not a table egg: it must be clean, intact, normally shaped and kept under controlled conditions before being set. Cracked, dirty or misshapen eggs are removed.
Traceability starts here: each batch of eggs is identified so that the chicks hatched from it can be followed.
Incubation
Eggs are placed in incubators that keep temperature, humidity and ventilation very stable, and turn the eggs regularly. For chickens, incubation lasts about three weeks.
During incubation, candling removes clear eggs or those whose embryo has stopped developing. The hatchery operator watches the machines day and night: a power cut or a drifting setting can compromise an entire batch.
Hatching
A few days before the end, eggs are moved to the hatcher. The chicks break through the shell and dry off in a warm, humid environment.
It is a delicate stage where hygiene is essential: hatchers are cleaned and disinfected after every hatch so that no germs pass to the next batch.
Grading and preparing the chicks
Each chick is examined: alertness, well-closed navel, normal legs and beak, dry down. Only chicks that meet the standard are kept. Depending on the type, they may be sexed.
Brown laying chicks are vaccinated against Marek’s disease at the hatchery (certificate on request). The other chicks (white broilers, red broilers, barred grey, hybrids, cockerels) receive no vaccine at the hatchery: vaccination is done on the farm, following the protocol of the vet in your area.
From hatchery to farm
Chicks leave the hatchery in ventilated boxes as soon as possible after hatching. Transport must avoid heat, cold and jolts.
NEXTEKCI has run an approved hatchery in Agnibilékrou since 2006. Its day-old chicks are available throughout Côte d’Ivoire: collection at the hatchery (minimum 50 chicks) or delivery by professional carriers on three routes (minimum 200 chicks).