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Worlds Poultry Congress 5 - 9

August - 2012 Salvador - Bahia - Brazil

The importance of the brooding period

On

HatchTech Incubation Technology

B.V., P.O. Box 256, 3900
AG Veenendaal, The Netherlands.

Summary

Posthatch development
The posthatch period of chickens is called the
brooding period and is roughly the first 7 days of a
chickens life. Relative growth of a broiler chicken
is largest during the first week of life (Nitsan et
al., 1995) and maturation of different regulatory
systems occurs during this period (Maiorka et al.,
2006; Tzschentke, 2007; Christensen, 2009).
First of all, chickens are unable to regulate

Secondly, there are major changes in the growth

and development of the gastro-intestinal tract (GIT;
Noy and Sklan, 1997). The gastro-intestinal tract
shows the highest growth rate during the first week
of a chickens life and this growth even exceeds the
growth rate of the total body (Sell et al., 1991; Uni
and Ferket, 2004). The rapid development of the
GIT may indicate the important role of this supply
organ in early body development. The chicken must
undergo metabolic adaptations (Noy and Sklan,
2001) as it changes from a major lipid diet of the
embryonic yolk during incubation to a carbohydrate
and protein-rich exogenous diet during the brooding
period (Noy and Sklan, 1995; Uni and Ferket,
2004). The digestibility of nutrients increases in
the posthatch period (Noy and Sklan, 1997, 1999),
which is probably related to the development of the
gastro-intestinal tract and the presence of adequate
enzymatic activity and sodium cotransporters (Noy
and Sklan, 1997, 1999; Sulistiyanto et al., 1999; Uni
and Ferket, 2004).

Roos Molenaar

everal developmental and physiological

processes occur during the important and
sensitive brooding period of chickens, which
is the first 7 days of a chickens life. The
chicken seems anatomically complete at hatch, but
the thermoregulatory, gastro-intestinal and immune
system need further development and maturation.
Optimal brooding is essential to optimize animal
health and contributes to a good performance and
survival in later life. The most important brooding
condition to control is the body temperature
because chickens are unable to regulate their
body temperature posthatch. Secondly, feed
intake is important and stimulates both intestinal
and immunological development. To optimize the
brooding period, two systems are developed by
the industry: the Patio and the HatchBrood system.
In the Patio system, the hatching and growout
phase are combined. In the HatchBrood system,
brooding conditions are optimized for the first
days of a chickens life. Understanding the specific
requirements of posthatch birds and subsequently
adjust the brooding conditions is important to
improve performance, animal health and welfare.

their body temperature posthatch and react as

poikilotherm animals (Romanoff, 1941; Weytjens
et al., 1999). When the environmental temperature
decreases, the body temperature of a chicken
decreases as well. Because the body temperature
of a chicken is dependent on the environment in
the brooding period, the temperature that the
chicken experiences is important. Chickens become
homeotherm within 4 to 5 days posthatch, which is
called the early brooding period (Romanoff, 1941;
Weytjens et al., 1999; Tzschentke, 2007).

Early feeding has been shown to positively

affect growth, development and maturation of the
gastrointestinal tract and thereby the chicken itself
(Noy and Sklan, 1997; Batal and Parsons, 2002; Uni
and Ferket, 2004). The earlier the chicken starts to
consume feed and water, the earlier its development
starts (Noy and Sklan, 1997). In practice, the time
between hatch and first feed consumption can be
up to 72 hours, because of variations in hatch time,
chick handling, and transportation time (Dibner et
al., 1998; Noy and Sklan, 2001; Van den Brand et
al., 2010). During this period, the chicken has no
access to feed and water and can only consume
the nutrients of the residual yolk (Noy and Sklan,
1997; Uni and Ferket, 2004). During the last period
of incubation, the yolk that is left is retracted in the
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abdominal cavity (Romanoff, 1960). This residual

yolk is about 8 to 10% of the total body weight
at hatch (Lourens et al., 2005, 2006) and contains
mainly lipids (Romanoff, 1960; Noble and Ogunyemi,
1989). In the past, the residual yolk was seen as a
lunch box for the posthatch period. It is true that
chickens develop slightly after hatch because of yolk
utilization (Noy and Sklan, 1999; Molenaar et al.,
2010), but this is much lower without access to feed
and water (Noy and Sklan, 1997).
Furthermore, a delay in feed consumption seems
to affect the immunological status of the chicken
(Dibner et al., 1998; Juul-Madsen et al., 2004;
Bar-Shira et al., 2005). The immune system is not
completely developed at hatch (Dibner et al., 1998)
and a day-old chicken obtains its passive immunity by
absorption of the maternal immunoglobulines of the
residual yolk into the bloodstream and transportation
of these immunoglobulines to mucosal surfaces
where organisms are likely to enter the body (Dibner
et al., 1998). When feed consumption is delayed,
the valuable immunoglobulines of the residual yolk
are absorbed and metabolized for energy (Dibner
et al., 1998). This probably impairs the immune
status of the chicken and makes the chicken more
susceptible for diseases (Dibner et al., 1998). If
additionally the brooding conditions are suboptimal
and body temperatures become too low, chickens
are probably even more susceptible for infections.

Optimal brooding conditions

The most important factor during the brooding
period that needs to be optimized is the body
temperature of chickens. With the right body
temperature, chickens start eating, drinking, and
growing. The range of environmental temperatures
in which chickens can maintain their body
temperature is narrow (Freeman, 1963) and the
environmental and floor temperatures are therefore
crucial to maintain an optimal body temperature
(Lourens and Kuijpers, 2002; Van der Sluis, 2004).
Different studies have shown that chickens survive
and grow better when the brooding temperature
is high (>28C; Deaton et al., 1996; Malheiros et
al., 2000; Baarendse et al., 2006; Leksrisompong et
al., 2009). However, there is hardly any information
about the optimal body temperature of chickens
(Purswell et al., 2008). In practice, it is shown that a
body temperature between 40.0 and 41.0C in the
brooding period is optimal and results in the best
growth and development. Within this temperature
range, chickens show normal eating, drinking and
sleeping behavior.

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The requirements to obtain an optimal body

temperature can differ between flocks. One major
factor that affects the brooding conditions is the age
of the breeder flock. Chickens of a young breeder
flock (<35 weeks of age) are smaller than chickens
from a prime (35-50 weeks) or old (>50 weeks)
breeder flock, mainly because of the difference in
egg size. In general, young breeder flocks produce
small eggs that will hatch small chickens. The
chickens of young breeder flocks are more sensitive
for cold temperatures than chickens of prime and old
breeder flocks in the brooding period (Weytjens et
al., 1999). The thermoregulatory ability of chickens
of a young breeder flock seems to be less developed
compared to chickens of a prime or old breeder
flock (Weytens et al., 1999). As a consequence, the
chickens of a young breeder flock require 24 to 48
hours more to become fully homeotherm compared
to chickens of a prime or old breeder flock (Lourens
and Kuijpers, 2002). This may be related to the
higher surface area to body mass in small compared
to large chickens or physiological differences
between chickens caused by differences in egg
nutrients and/or embryonic nutrient utilization. In
practice, it is demonstrated that the environmental
and floor temperature in the broiler farm has to be
higher for chickens of young flocks compared to
chickens from prime or old breeder flocks during
the brooding period to maintain body temperatures
within the range of 40.0-41.0C.
A second important factor during the brooding
period is feed intake. Feed intake stimulates early
growth and development (Uni and Ferket, 2004)
and it is therefore important that chickens find feed
and water easily. In practice, feed is often provided
in feeding troughs and on paper at the arrival of
the day-old chickens to ensure that the chickens
have easy access to feed. Drinking nipples should
be at the right height to attract birds to the nipples
by the sparkling effect of the water droplets. It
should be prevent that birds spoil water, because
this can result in wet litter and foot and leg lesions
(Houldcroft et al., 2008).

Importance of an optimal
brooding period
Broiler chickens increase their body weight
approximately 50-fold within 42 days of age and
the brooding period represents 17% of the life
span of a broiler chicken (Liliburn, 1998). Because
of the short life cycle of broiler chickens, growth
and development during the brooding period are

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important. This is also expressed by the positive

relation between body weight at 7 days of age and
body weights at marketing age (Nir and Levanon,
1993; Gonzales et al., 2003).
As described in the first paragraph, several
developmental and physiological processes occur
during the brooding period and optimization of
these processes are critical to improve animal health
and welfare. Optimal brooding conditions improve
the intestinal and immune function and thereby
increase the health status and survival rate of a flock
(Dibner et al., 1998; Uni and Ferket, 2004; Bar-Shira
et al., 2005; Lekrisompong et al., 2009).
Providing chickens with the correct body
temperature is the first step to optimize the brooding
period and behavior is a good indicator if chickens
are thermal comfortable (Charles, 1986). If the body
temperature is not correct, a day-old chicken starts
screaming (Lourens and Kuijpers, 2002). If the body

temperature is too high, chickens start panting

(Kaltofen and Dijk, 1984; Charles, 1986). If the body
temperature becomes too low, chickens decrease
their activity, show more sleep-like behavior, and
huddle together (Kaltofen and Dijk, 1984; Charles,
1986; Mujahid and Furuse, 2009).
Providing uniform body temperatures throughout
the whole flock is the second step to optimize the
brooding period. Uniform body temperatures are
achieved by uniform environmental conditions and
will decrease the number of non-starters and the
variation in body weights within the flock (Maatjens,
2010). Uniform brooding conditions improve the
uniformity of a flock.

Although the poultry industry is more and

more aware of the importance of the brooding
period, the specific requirements of posthatch
chickens and the possible interaction with
the incubation process and/or the grow-out
period are largely unknown and not intensively
investigated yet.
Figure 1 - Egg trays in the Patio system with broilers that are
hatching.

Figure 2 - Broiler chickens in the Patio system during hatching.

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Furthermore, optimal brooding conditions may

contribute to the reduction in antibiotic usage.
Reducing antibiotic usage is an important tool
to prevent the worldwide growing resistance to
antibiotics of pathogenic bacteria in humans (Cohen,
2009; Van Duijn et al., 2011). When the
development of the thermoregulatory, gastrointestinal, and immune system are optimized
by optimal brooding conditions, this may
positively affect the health status of chickens
in later life. This may decrease the outbreak of
diseases and the use of antibiotics. However,
this hypothesis needs further investigation.

Brooding systems
Two systems are already developed by the
industry to optimize the brooding period of
chickens, which are the Patio and HatchBrood
system. With these brooding systems, the
conditions of posthatch birds can be more
optimized and are more uniform compared
to traditional broiler farms. In the Patio
system, the hatching and grow-out phase are
combined (Van de Ven et al., 2009; www.
vencomatic.com). The broiler farm receives
18-day-incubated eggs. The chickens hatch
on the egg tray, fall into the litter, and have
immediate access to feed and water after
hatch (Figures 1 and 2). The chickens are kept
in the system until the end of the grow-out
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period. The Patio is built in combinations of two
rows of about 2.4 meter width. The rows consist
of 6 identical levels with litter belts above each
other. Every level has its own egg tray-transport
system, and feeding and drinking line. At slaughter
age, broilers are harvested automatically with the
use of the litter belts on which the broilers are
housed. Ventilation, heating, and humidification are
controlled automatically. Combining the hatching
and the growing phase, the Patio system is used as
a replacement for the hatcher for the last days of
incubation and for the traditional broiler farm.
HatchBrood is a system that is designed to
optimize the brooding conditions for the first
days of a chickens life (www.hatchbrood.com).
After hatching, day-old chickens are placed in
the HatchBrood unit. The HatchBrood unit can

Worlds Poultry Congress 5 - 9

August - 2012 Salvador - Bahia - Brazil

hold up to 39,600 chickens and is divided in 12

sections (Figure 3). Each section contains dolleys
with CradlesTM holding the chickens. Inside the
unit, air temperature, relative humidity, and CO2
are monitored and automatically adjusted to the
settings. The CradlesTM inside the HatchBrood unit
contain 50 chickens each and have a surface area
of 4,000 cm2 (Figure 4). Each individual CradleTM
contains two feed troughs on both sides, which
are loaded with feed for the complete HatchBrood
cycle. The radiators are equipped with drinking
gutters and lights. After 4 days in the HatchBrood
system, chickens are transported to the farm. The
HatchBrood system is used as an extension of the
hatchery and older chickens are delivered to the
broiler farm.

Conclusion
In conclusion, understanding the specific
requirements of posthatch birds and
subsequently adjust the brooding conditions
is important to improve performance, animal
health and welfare.

Roos Molenaar

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