Dr. Roos Molenaar M.Sc. and Dr. Inge Reijrink M.Sc.
A study of the Research department of HatchTech showed a positive relation between chick length at day of hatch and chick weight at day 7. This suggests that a longer chick at day of hatch has a higher development and growth potential than a shorter chick. Furthermore, a longer compared to a shorter chick at hatch may have an improved organ development in later life. To investigate this hypothesis, a study was conducted by the research department of HatchTech.
Chicks of a breeder flock of 33 weeks old were selected. At day of hatch, chick length and chick weight was measured of 60 birds and they were then divided in 3 chick length groups. The large chick length group contained chicks with a length between 20.0-20.6 cm, the middle chick length group between 19.2-19.8 cm, and the small chick length group between 18.2-18.8 cm. All chicks were housed at a broiler farm of 9,000 birds and were fed a starter diet. At day 7 of age, body weight and organ weights were measured.
Results showed that there was a positive relation between chick length at day of hatch and chick weight at day 7 (R=0.68; P<0.001). Every extra cm of chick length at day of hatch resulted on average in 17.8 gram extra chick weight at day 7 of age. There was hardly any residual yolk found after 7 days, the weights ranged between 0.03 and 0.32 g. Forty-two percent of the chickens in the large chick length group, 59% of the middle chick length group and 20% of the small chick length group had some residual yolk in the body cavity at day 7 of age. Download the entire article via the button below.
