Sanitary Management of the Hatching Eggs

Unquestionably, the sanitary quality of the hatching eggs will affect the quality of the day-old chicks. The egg leaves the oviduct free of any microorganisms (except for vertically-transmitted pathologies), but even eggs which are laid « clean » present a wide diversity of bacteria on the shell. Furthermore, after being laid, the egg’s temperature drops (from 41 to 21°C), which causes embryonic development to be suspended, but also egg contents to contract, thereby creating an aspiration effect of the germs present on the eggshell surface, an effect made even easier by the fact that the cuticle is still wet.