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Temperature after oviposition has been found to have a considerable influence on the rate of embryonic development and success of the hatching egg storage. General recommendations for egg cooling after oviposition is that eggs should be cooled to below physiological zero level within four to eight hours. The rate at which eggs cool is dependent upon a number of factors such as egg size, initial egg temperature, nest and/or storage area conditions and holding time, air movement, collection material, time spent in the cooler. The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of following factors under different egg cooling pattern in a commercial hatchery on hatchability of broiler breeder eggs; 1) flock age (Young-Old flocks), 2) season (Winter-Summer), 3) egg location on the cardboard egg tray after collection (Inner-Outer). Four experiments were completed to compare the effects of egg location on the cardboard tray after collection. Commercial flocks of Ross 308 broiler breeder were used as the source of broiler hatching eggs. Breeder flock ages were 27 wk (young) and 61 wk (old) in winter and 27 wk (young) and 51 wk (old) in summer season. A total of 2600, 4800, 2600, and 8000 eggs were used in experiment 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. All eggs were had been laid within a 15-min period were collected and placed in cardboard egg trays. Eggshell temperature was measured with an infrared thermometer at 30-min intervals during the cooling process. The eggs were divided into two groups, which were inner and outer of the cardboard egg tray and the eggs were marked permanently. All eggs were stored for 5 d at 16°C and 75% RH. At the time of removal of chicks from hatchers (510 h), all unhatched eggs were opened and examined macroscopically to determine, infertile, early, mid, and late embryonic mortality. The cooling pattern has been affected by location of egg after collection in all experiments, but the effects of egg location on hatchability and embryonic mortalities have been changed by the season and flock age factors. For young flocks, the outer located eggs had a significantly lower hatchability when compared to inner side eggs in winter conditions due to significantly higher late embryonic mortality (P < 0.05), whereas in summer season, there was no significant difference between two located eggs (P > 0.05). For old flocks, the outer located eggs had a significantly higher hatchability when compared to inner side eggs in summer conditions due to significantly lower early embryonic mortality (P < 0.05), whereas in winter season, there was no significant difference between two located eggs (P > 0.05). Conclusions: These results suggest that the egg cooling pattern after lay is an important factor to achieve better hatchability and the cooling pattern might be needed consideration as so flock age and season in case the eggs have been collected to cardboard tray. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

1. The effect of breeder flock age, storage temperature and a short period of incubation during egg storage (SPIDES) on albumen quality, development of blastoderm, and hatchability of long-stored eggs was evaluated. 2. Hatching eggs were collected from 28-week-old (young) and 40-week-old (prime) Ross female line grandparent flocks and were stored for 14 d at 12, 15 or 18°C. During storage, the eggs were either kept continuously in the storage room (control) or were subjected to SPIDES treatment. 3. Embryonic development was more advanced in eggs from the prime flock, exposed to SPIDES and warmer (18°C) storage temperature (P ≤ 0.05). There was a difference in the albumen pH for flock ages (P < 0.05), but the SPIDES treatment did not affect albumen height and pH (P > 0.05). On d 14 of storage, albumen pH was positively (P < 0.05) correlated with storage temperature. Hatchability was higher in the prime flock (P < 0.05). 4. At both flock ages, hatchability increased (P < 0.05) by storing the eggs at 15°C, compared to 18°C, with 12°C intermediate. The hatchability improvement was due to reduced early embryonic mortality. 5. The SPIDES treatment decreased late embryonic mortality and the percentage of second-grade chicks (P < 0.05), which increased the hatchability of fertile eggs (P < 0.05). SPIDES only reduced (P < 0.05) early embryonic mortality in eggs stored at 18°C. 6. The highest hatchability was observed in the eggs stored at 15°C and exposed to one SPIDES treatment during 14 d storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of temperature fluctuation during 7 d of storage on stage of blastoderm development, embryonic mortality, and hatchability of broiler hatching eggs were studied. Hatching eggs from 2 commercial flocks of Ross 308 broiler breeders at 27 and 50 wk of age, respectively, were randomly assigned to replicate chambers with either a constant temperature (Constant) of 18°C or a temperature that fluctuated (Fluctuated) over a 40 min period 3 times daily (0900 h, 1300 h, and 1700 h) between 18°C and 21°C. This latter treatment was intended to mimic the opening of an egg storage room door to add freshly collected eggs. The developmental stages of the blastoderm before and after storage were determined. At each flock age, there were 10 replicate trays of 60 eggs per egg storage temperature treatment set in a single stage incubator. All unhatched eggs were opened and examined macroscopically to determine fertility or embryonic mortality (early dead (0 to 7 d), middle + late dead (8 to 21 d plus pipped eggs), and to calculate percentage hatchability of fertile eggs. Embryonic development was advanced by flock age (P < 0.10) and fluctuating temperature treatment (P < 0.05). Blastoderm stages were determined according to Eyal Giladi and Kockav (EGK). The Fluctuated vs. Constant treatment exhibited an EGK of 9.8 vs. 9.1 (P < 0.05) in the young flock and EGK of 11.0 vs. 10.1 (P < 0.05) in the old flock. During 7 d of storage, Fluctuated temperature decreased early embryonic mortality (P < 0.05) in the eggs from the young flock but increased early embryonic mortality (P < 0.05) in the eggs from the old flock, which decreased (P < 0.05) hatchability of fertile eggs in the old flock. The fluctuating temperature conditions that did not negatively affect the younger flock eggs were not favorable for eggs from the older flock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of heating of eggs during stor-age, broiler breeder age, and length of egg storage on hatchability of fertile eggs were examined in this study. Eggs were collected from Ross 344 male x Ross 308 broiler breeders on paper flats, held overnight (1 d) at 18°C and 75% RH, and then transferred to plastic trays. In experiment 1, eggs were obtained at 28, 38, and 53 wk of flock age. During a further 10 d of stor-age, eggs either remained in the storage room (control) or were subjected to a heat treatment regimen of 26°C for 2 h, 37.8°C for 3 h, and 26°C for 2 h in a setter at d 5 of storage. In experiment 2, eggs from a flock at 28 wk of age were heated for 1 d of a 6-d storage period. Eggs from a 29-wk-old flock were either heated at d 1 or 5 of an 11-d storage period in experiment 3. In ex-periment 4, 27-wk-old flock eggs were heated twice at d 1 and 5 of an 11-d storage period. Control eggs stored for 6 or 11 d were coincubated as appropriate in each experiment. Heating eggs at d 5 of an 11-d storage pe-riod increased hatchability in experiment 1. Although no benefit of heating 28-wk-old flock eggs during 6 d of storage in experiment 2 was observed, heating eggs from a 29-wk-old flock at d 1 or 5 of an 11-d storage period increased hatchability in experiment 3. Further, heating eggs from a 27-wk-old flock twice during 11 d of storage increased hatchability in experiment 4. These effects were probably due to the fact that eggs from younger flocks had been reported to have many embry-os at a stage of development where the hypoblast had not yet fully developed (less than EG-K12 to EG-K13), such that heating during extended storage advanced these embryos to a more resistant stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Longer egg storage times (>7 d) are common in broiler parent and grandparent hatcheries to obtain the requested flock size. However, prolonged storage is known to decrease hatchability. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of turning and short period of incubation during egg storage (SPIDES) for 14 d on the stage of blastoderm development, embryonic mortality, and hatchability of eggs from young and old grandparent flocks. Hatching eggs were obtained from Ross female line grandparent flocks aged 29 wk (young) and 58 wk (old). Eggs were stored at 15°C, and turned 90° 0 or 4 times daily during storage. On day 5 after egg collection, the eggs were either held in the storage room (control) or subjected to SPIDES treatment. The development of the blastoderm in sample eggs was determined immediately after collection on a farm and again after the SPIDES treatment. Each of the 8 subtreatments was tested on 6 replicate trays of 150 eggs (900 eggs per subtreatment) with 7,200 hatching eggs set in a single-stage setter and hatcher for the trial. The stage of blastoderm development was advanced by the old flock, by SPIDES, and by turning 4 times daily during egg storage (P ≤ 0.05). There was a significant interaction effect of flock age × turning during storage on embryonic development, which suggested that turning advanced the stage of blastoderm development only in eggs from the old flock (P ≤ 0.05). Eggs from the young flock had a better hatchability than eggs from the old flock (P ≤ 0.05). Hatchability was increased by turning 4 times/day during the storage period compared with no turning because of a decrease in the percentage of late embryonic mortality (P ≤ 0.05). SPIDES decreased early and late embryonic mortality as well as the percentage of second-grade chicks (P ≤ 0.05), which increased the hatchability of fertile eggs at both flock ages (P ≤ 0.05). The results of this study showed that a combination of turning eggs 4 times daily along with one SPIDES treatment during 14 d of storage resulted in the highest hatchability in both young and old broiler grandparent flocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]