Research Note: Storage period and prewarming temperature effects on synchronous egg hatching from broiler breeder flocks during the early laying period.

The effects of the storage period and prewarming temperature on embryonic mortality, hatchability, and synchronous hatching of broiler eggs were investigated. Eggs were obtained from commercial flocks of Ross 308 broiler breeders at 27 and 28 wk of age for trials 1 and 2, respectively. In both trials, 2,400 eggs were stored for 4 d (short) or 11 d (long) at 18°C (64.4°F) and 75% RH and were randomly assigned to 2 groups at either a prewarming temperature of 26.1°C (79°F, low) or 29.4°C (85°F, high) for 8 h before setting. The eggs were transferred from setters to hatching baskets at 444 h (18.5 d) of incubation. The hatched chicks were counted at 6-h intervals between 468 h and 516 h of incubation and categorized as early, middle, or late hatching. The eggs stored for 4 d hatched earlier than the eggs stored for 11 d (P < 0.05). An increased prewarming temperature (29.4°C) resulted in a 1.0-h shorter incubation duration, but this difference was not significant (P = 0.064). An interaction between the storage period and prewarming temperature was observed for middle- and late-hatched chicks (P < 0.05). No interactions between the storage period and prewarming temperature were observed for hatchability of fertile eggs or embryonic mortality; however, a significant interaction was found between the storage period and prewarming temperature on the second-quality chick percentage (P < 0.05). The eggs stored for 11 d had a significantly reduced hatchability of fertile eggs owing to increased embryonic mortality than short-stored eggs (P < 0.05). The interaction effect indicated that eggs held for 8 h with prewarming at 29.4°C after 11 d of storage had more middle- and fewer late-hatched chicks and improved chick quality than those that received the 26.1°C prewarming treatment (P < 0.05), but no significant difference was found among the prewarming treatments for eggs stored for 4 d. This study demonstrated that prolonged egg storage resulted in reduced hatchability, increased incubation duration, and an asynchronous hatching time. Moreover, increasing the prewarming temperature could be used to promote uniformity among embryos through synchronous hatching, thus improving broiler flock uniformity and performance of the prolonged stored eggs.