Impact of Floor-laid and Nest-laid Eggs on Hatchability and Chick Quality in Broiler Breeders

The production of a high-quality chicken originates from a high-quality egg, characterized by its cleanliness, structural integrity and absence of fissures. Though, eggs laid on the floor often fail to meet these standards. This study aimed to compare hatchability and chick quality parameters between eggs laid in nests (NE) and those laid on the floor (FE) in broiler breeders.

The experiment was conducted in a commercial hatchery, following a completely randomized design with two treatments, each consisting of three replicates. Each replicate included 150 eggs, with a total of 900 eggs (450 nest eggs and 450 floor eggs) collected from a flock of 42-week-old Arbour Acres Plus breeds. The eggs were incubated in a Petersime commercial full-empty type incubator. After 504 hours of incubation, key production rates such as hatchability, unhatched eggs, embryonic mortality, pipping mortality and clear eggs were estimated. Chick quality was assessed through chick weight, chick yield and Pasgar score.

The results revealed that FE eggs had significantly higher embryonic mortality (+4%; P=0.021) and lower hatchability (-9.6%; P=0.018) compared to NE eggs. However, there were no significant differences between the two egg types in terms of the pipping mortality and the number of infertile (clear) eggs (P>0.05). Furthermore, FE eggs resulted in a significant decrease in chick weight (-3.12%; P<0.001) and chick yield (-2.1%; P<0.001), whereas no significant impact was observed on the chick score.