Spread of hatch and delayed feed access affect post hatch performance of female broiler chicks up to day 5

Abstract

It is not rare that newly hatched chicks remain without feed for about 24 to 48 h before they are placed on farms due to a series of logistic operations. Furthermore, the spread in hatching time can also mount up to 30 to 48 h for late v. early hatchers. In other words, the practice is a complex combination of spread of hatch and delayed feed access. The present study was aimed to investigate the combined effects of hatching time with a delay in feed access of 48 h, starting from their hatch-time (biological age). When chicks had access to feed immediately after hatch, late hatchers had a higher feed intake and relative growth rate up to day 5 compared with their early hatched counterparts. Feed deprivation during the first 48 h resulted in retarded early growth rate, which was further aggravated by an impaired feed intake after refeeding. In addition, the differential effects of hatching time on relative growth rate and feed intake observed in immediately fed chicks were eliminated by the 48 h feed delay. The yolk utilization after hatch was faster for the late hatchers up to biological day 2 regardless of the feeding treatments. Hatching muscle glycogen content was higher in the late hatchers compared with that of their early counterparts at hatch and at biological day 2 independent of feeding treatment. Moreover, the liver glycogen content of the late hatchers was also higher at hatch. For the immediately fed chicks, the proportional breast muscle weight of the late hatchers was higher at biological day 2 and 5. For the starved chicks, on the other hand, this effect was only observed after they had access to feed (biological day 5). The different plasma T 3 levels at hatch may have contributed to the different post hatch performance. It is concluded that the spread of hatch influenced post hatch performance, especially appetite and growth at least until day 5. Moreover, the delay in feed access interacted with the hatching time and caused adverse effects on the post hatch performance.

Growth heterogeneity in broiler breeder pullets is settled before the onset of feed restriction but is not predicted by size at hatch

“…Two main differences in experimental setup may explain the difference between the results of Peebles et al (2004) and this study: first, Peebles and colleagues could perform temperature measurements at the hatchery, whereas our measurements started later, and second, their measurements were performed under highly varying external temperatures that may have increased differences in body temperature, whereas ours were performed under more consistent conditions. Although we did not find any body temperature differences between slow-and fast-growing animals, recent studies have shown that different lengths of time between hatching and first access to feed may affect the relationship between body temperature and growth, with low levels of T 3 being associated with increased early growth when chicks start feeding soon after hatching but not in initially fasted chicks (Wang et al, 2014(Wang et al, , 2016. This suggests a potential confounder that we could not correct for, as all chicks used in this study came from commercial hatcheries that do not record individual hatching times.…”

Synergistic Effect of Fadrozole and Insulin-Like Growth Factor-I on Female-To-Male Sex Reversal and Body Weight of Broiler Chicks

“…Supplementation of Fadrozole into chicken eggs increased the number of hatched chicks around the mode and afterwards increased the number of late hatchers. The spread of hatching time can be escalated up to 48 hours for late versus early hatchers [23]. Therefore, practically, chicks are deprived from water and feed for up to 72 hours post-hatching [69].…”

“…Therefore, practically, chicks are deprived from water and feed for up to 72 hours post-hatching [69]. On the other hand, early hatchers suffer more from being fasted compared to the late hatchers [23], have slower growth rate and immune system activity [69]–[71], and comprised the majority of low quality chickens [70]. Moreover, the compulsory holdup feed access is a main aggravating factor for long storage duration of hatched chicks [70].…”

“…To follow the standards [23], all the chicks in each group were kept in the hatchery until six hours after the last hatching event and then they were sexed and reared for six weeks. Therefore, we could not determine chicken gender at the exact time of hatching.…”

First week nutrition for broiler chickens : effects on growth, metabolic status, organ development, and carcass composition

“…Various studies have looked into the underlying physiological differences between early, midterm, and late hatched chickens within the hatch-window, by determining blood metabolites, such as glucose, lactate, uric acid, as well as thyroid hormones triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) (Van de Ven et al, 2011;Van de Ven et al, 2013;Wang et al, 2014b). None of these studies looked into potential effects on breast meat yield, except for Wang et al (2014), who found no effect of hatch moment nor feed access on the proportional breast muscle weight at biological age d 2 and 5.…”