Successful hatchery-breeder management is all in the details

Hatchery-breeder clinic highlights state of industry of poultry hatchery sector.

“Successful hatchery and breeder management is all in the details,” Chad Mason, broiler/hatchery manager at Columbia Farms, said during the U.S. Poultry & Egg Assn.'s (USPOULTRY) 2018 Hatchery-Breeder Clinic held in Nashville, Tenn.

During his presentation on fertility management, Mason shared some experiences and lessons learned as the broiler/hatchery manager at Columbia Farms. He said, “Do you know what is happening in your poultry houses daily? What do you see at feeding time? Are you there at feeding time? If you are not present and observing, you miss the red flags.”

Dr. Gene Simpson, professor and associate director of the National Poultry Technology Center at Auburn University, discussed some of the changes in housing that have occurred and will occur in the coming years.

“Changes due to customer mandates, when it comes to housing and other areas of production, are going to become the norm. The demands can seem burdensome right now, but they will become the norm in the years to come," Simpson said. "We, as an industry, have to adapt to these new requests.”

Biosecurity should always be top of mind, but even more so in the primary breeding segment of the poultry industry. Dr. Robin Jarquin, director of world technical services for Cobb-Vantress, offered some practical tips on avian influenza and Mycoplasma synoviae prevention.

“In our industry, we often talk about how things used to be, but our industry has changed. We have more chickens than we have had before, not only in the U.S. but worldwide. With more poultry comes more reservoirs for disease. Poultry diseases will become more challenging as we have more birds,” Jarquin said.

Other topics at the clinic included an update on the "state of the industry," hatchery sanitation, methods for monitoring chick quality, a technology showcase for breeder and pullet houses, effective team building, recruiting CDL drivers, a hatchery technology showcase, multi-stage to single-stage incubation conversion and an effective antibiotic-free program.

USPOULTRY is an all-feather organization representing the complete spectrum of today’s poultry industry, with a focus on progressively serving member companies through research, education, communications and technical assistance. Founded in 1947, USPOULTRY is based in Tucker, Ga.