Chicks hatch over a time window of approximately 36 to 48 h and are removed from the hatchers only when the majority of the chicks has hatched. Consequently, chicks are exposed to prolonged posthatch holding periods and delays in feed and water access, leading to dehydration and impaired posthatch performance. It is questionable whether the physiological requirements of the hatchlings can be me...

Campylobacter jejuni cells are able to enter a viable but nonculturable (VBNC) state when they are suspended in water. In the present experiments we inoculated day-of-hatch leghorn and broiler chicks with normal gut microflora and subsequently challenged these with high doses of VBNC C. jejuni. The objective was to determine if the pre-establishment of a normal gut flora would enable VBNC Campy...

Palm kernel cake (PKC) is the main byproduct from the palm oil industry in several tropical countries that contains considerable amounts of oligosaccharide. We earlier demonstrated beneficial prebiotic effects of oligosaccharides extract of PKC (OligoPKC) in starter and finisher broiler birds. This study was envisaged to elucidate the effects of in ovo and/or oral administration of the OligoPKC...

Exposing eggs multiple times to ultraviolet light (UV) and 3% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) results in a greater reduction of eggshell bacteria compared to eggs treated only once with this combination. However, it is unknown if this repetitive treatment will have any effect on hatchability. Therefore, the objective of this experiment was to determine if hatchability would be affected by reducing egg...

A total of 420 fertile broiler eggs (Cobb) with uniform egg weight were collected and divided into three groups: non-injected control, injected control (0.5 ml of 0.9% normal saline) and arginine (0.5 ml of 0.5% arginine); and injected on 18 day (d) of incubation into amnion. On the 21 d, 108 chicks were randomly selected from each treatment totaling to 324 chicks. The hatchability, hatch weigh...

Two commercially available acidifying litter treatments, aluminum sulfate (alum) and sodium bisulfate, were tested to determine their effects on Campylobacter and Salmonella colonization frequencies and populations associated with broilers raised on treated pine litter. To produce contaminated litter, broiler chicks were inoculated with two bacterial cocktails (multistrain mixtures of campyloba...

Beak trimming is necessary in commercial broiler breeders to prevent or decrease trauma as they mature. Two common beak-trimming methods were evaluated by early performance comparison with nontrimmed chicks (NBT). The robotic electrocautery device (ECD) trims and cauterizes the beak tip. The robotic infrared beak-trimming device (IBT) applies an infrared light beam to destroy the live basal tis...

Delay in access to feed for 1-d-old chicks impairs posthatch growth. It is a standard practice that 1-d-old chicks are deprived of feed for about 48 h before they are placed on farms. During incubation, there is a spread of 24 to 48 h for late versus early hatching. As spread of hatch increases, number of chicks that are feed-deprived for a longer time before free access (IA) to feed and water ...

A progressive selection for broiler live and processing performance traits has changed broiler growth patterns during the post hatch period. However, limited information is available to understand whether changes have also occurred during the embryonic stages. This study aims to examine influences of broiler strain on nutrient availability, embryonic development, and nutrient metabolism during ...