WO2007018430A1

WO2007018430A1 - Method and system for incubating and hatching of eggs

Info

Publication number: WO2007018430A1
Application number: PCT/NL2006/000419
Authority: WO
Inventors: Arnoldus Johannes Franciscus Kuijken; Cornelius Antonius Wilhelmus Van De Ven
Original assignee: Van De Ven Beheer B.V.
Priority date: 2005-08-11
Filing date: 2006-08-11
Publication date: 2007-02-15
Also published as: NL1029714C2

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for incubating and hatching eggs, comprising of placing a number of eggs in an incubator drawer, placing the incubator drawer with the eggs in a setter and storing it therein for a first period under incubating conditions, removing the eggs from the setter at the end of the first period and transferring the eggs to a hatcher, storing the eggs in the hatcher for a second period under hatching conditions, and removing animals that have emerged from the eggs and unhatched eggs from the hatcher at the end of the second period, wherein the eggs are stored standing upright in the hatcher. The eggs can be transferred in the incubator drawer to the hatcher and stored standing upright therein. The animals emerging from the eggs in the hatcher can be collected in a basket in the vicinity of the incubator drawer. The invention also relates to a system for performing the method.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR INCUBATING AND HATCHING OF EGGS

The invention relates to a method for incubating and hatching eggs, comprising of:

- placing a number of eggs in an incubator drawer,

- placing the incubator drawer with the eggs in an setter and storing it therein for a first period under incubating conditions,

- removing the eggs from the setter at the end of the first period and transferring the eggs to a hatcher,

- storing the eggs in the hatcher for a second period under hatching conditions, and

- removing animals that have emerged from the eggs and unhatched eggs from the hatcher at the end of the second period.

Such a method is known, for instance from EP-A-O 375 030.

The incubation and hatching of eggs on industrial scale has heretofore usually taken place in two stages, a first stage or incubating stage, usually of eighteen days, followed by a second stage, the hatching stage of three days. In the incubating stage the eggs are placed in incubator drawers which are then stored during the incubating period of eighteen days in a setter. Precisely controlled conditions are created in this setter, thereby enhancing the incubating process. Temperature and air humidity are particularly important factors here. In addition, the eggs in the setter are usually moved periodically. For this purpose the setter is normally provided with a moving mechanism arranged under each incubator drawer.

After the incubation the eggs are transferred to a hatcher. The eggs are taken for this purpose out of the incubator drawers and transferred into hatching trays. On this occasion the eggs are also generally inspected, i.e. checked for the presence of an embryo. Eggs which are found not to contain an embryo can then be removed. The hatching trays are then placed in the hatcher, in which favourable hatching conditions are once again created. The eggs hatch in the hatcher over a period of several days, usually three days. At the end of the hatching period the hatching trays having therein chicks, broken eggshells and a further number of unhatched eggs, are removed from the hatcher. The chicks are then separated from the eggshells and unhatched eggs by emptying the hatching trays onto a bar conveyor, wherein the chicks fall through the bars and are collected while the eggshells and unhatched eggs are discharged by the conveyor. The reason the eggs are transferred from the incubator drawers into hatching trays prior to the hatching is that the eggs are placed relatively close together in the incubator drawers and stand upright, while for hatching the eggs should have a larger intermediate spacing and must be in lying position. This is because when chicks emerge from the egg they must first peck at the inner side of the eggshell, and for this purpose it is necessary that the egg with the chick therein can roll freely back and forth.

The known method has the drawback of being rather labour-intensive. In particular the transfer of the eggs from the incubator drawers into the hatching trays entails a great deal of work, despite the fact that this is already partly mechanized nowadays. In addition, a relatively large number of eggs, in the order of 20%, still does not hatch. This means that roughly a fifth of the setter and hatcher is in fact kept occupied to no purpose, and a fifth of the energy used to maintain the incubating and hatching conditions is in fact also wasted. Finally, the method of separating chicks and egg remnants used heretofore is not very animal-friendly, and can moreover result in injuries, and so to a lower yield of healthy chicks.

The above-mentioned publication EP-A-O 375 030 already describes an incubation and hatching method wherein during transfer from the setter to the hatcher the eggs are no longer transferred to hatching trays. Use is made here of an incubator drawer in which the eggs can not only be incubated but in which they can also hatch out. This incubator drawer is provided with a releasable or movable insert with openings in which the eggs can be placed upright for incubation purposes. When the incubator drawer is transferred from the setter to the hatcher, the insert is first removed or in any case moved upward, so that the eggs are no longer supported and roll over. In this lying position on the bottom of the incubator drawer the eggs are then placed in the hatcher where they can hatch out.

Although the labour-intensive step of transferring the eggs into hatching trays is dispensed with through the use of this incubator drawer, this known method nevertheless still requires an additional operation, since the insert must be displaced or removed. Specially modified incubator drawers are further necessary for the use of this method, whereby costs increase and the method is not universally applicable. The invention now has for its object to provide an improved method for incubating and hatching eggs, wherein the above described drawbacks do not occur, or at least do so to a lesser degree.

According to the invention this objective is achieved in an incubating and hatching method as described in the preamble in that the eggs are stored standing upright in the hatcher. It has been found surprisingly that, when the eggs are in upright instead of lying position during hatching, a larger number of eggs actually hatches, while the chicks which emerge from the eggs are furthermore healthier.

The eggs are here preferably transferred in the incubator drawer to the hatcher and stored standing upright therein. By leaving the eggs in the incubator drawers the labour-intensive step of transferring the eggs to hatching trays is dispensed with. Furthermore, the hatcher is thus filled more efficiently than was the case with the conventional hatching trays. Because the eggs can remain standing upright in the incubator drawer, the incubator drawers need not be modified.

When the animals emerging from the eggs in the hatcher are collected in a basket in the vicinity of the incubator drawer, they are separated in animal-friendly manner from the eggshells and unhatched eggs in the incubator drawer.

For this purpose the incubator drawer is preferably placed on or in the basket, so that the hatched animals can simply allow themselves to drop from the incubator drawer into the basket.

In order to enhance the welfare and growth of the animals which have emerged from the eggs, they are preferably provided in the basket with food and/or drink.

It is advantageous in this case when the animals are housed in the basket for several more days after the end of the second period before being removed from the hatcher. They can then grow further under favourable conditions.

The invention has the further object of providing a system with which the above described method can be performed.

A conventional system for incubating and hatching eggs comprises a setter which is adapted to accommodate and store under incubating conditions at least one incubator drawer having therein a number of eggs, and a hatcher which is adapted to accommodate and store the incubated eggs under hatching conditions. The system according to the present invention is distinguished from the known systems in that the hatcher is adapted to store the eggs standing upright therein.

Preferred embodiments of the incubating and hatching system according to the invention form the subject-matter of the dependent claims 8 to 11. Finally, the invention further relates to a hatcher, an incubator drawer and a basket that are suitable for use in the method and the system as described above.

The invention is now elucidated on the basis of an embodiment, wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. IA and IB show perspective views of respectively a typical incubator drawer (already partially filled with eggs) and a basket for use in the method and the system according to the invention, Fig. 2 shows a top view of an incubator drawer filled with eggs and placed above a basket,

Fig. 3 shows a view corresponding with fig. 2 of the incubator drawer when some of the eggs have already hatched,

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a part of the incubator drawer and the basket placed thereunder and having already hatched chicks therein,

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a hatcher in which the incubator drawers can be accommodated,

Fig. β shows a cross-sectional view of the hatcher of fig. 5,

Fig. 6A shows a view on enlarged scale of the detail A in fig. 6, and Fig. 7 shows a view corresponding with fig. 5 of a second embodiment of the hatcher.

An incubator drawer 1 (fig. IA) comprises a generally rectangular frame 2 which is divided by means of transverse ribs 3 and longitudinal ribs 4 into a large number of compartments 5 for receiving eggs 6. Frame 2 is generally open on the underside, although a grating 7 can also be formed here in order to strengthen the incubator drawer 1. The dimensions of spaces 5 in frame 2 are chosen such that eggs 6 stand upright in incubator drawer 1. Incubator drawer 1, which has no moving parts, can be formed integrally, for instance injection moulded from plastic.

Prior to the incubation a number of incubator drawers 1 are wholly filled with eggs 6, whereafter they are placed in a setter (not shown here) where they remain for about eighteen days under precisely controlled conditions. During the stay in the setter the eggs 6 are moved back and forth slightly in incubator drawer 1 by special mechanisms in order to further the incubating process. At the end of this incubating period the eggs 6 are on the point of hatching.

Eggs 6 are transferred for this purpose to a hatcher 8 (fig. 5, 6) . After leaving the setter, the eggs 6 have heretofore first been transferred from the incubator drawer 1 into a hatching tray, in which they are set down with relatively large intermediate spacing. The present invention now provides for eggs 6 to remain in incubator drawer 1, and the incubator drawer to be simply transferred from the setter to hatcher 8. The labour-intensive and time-consuming step of transferring eggs 6 is hereby thus dispensed with. When incubator drawers 1 are transferred to hatcher 8, eggs 6 can simultaneously be inspected in order to check whether each egg 6 has an embryo. Eggs 6 can be illuminated for this purpose, wherein the embryos can be discerned as dark areas. Eggs which are found not to be fertilized can then be taken out of the incubator drawers before these latter are transferred to the hatcher 8.

In the hatcher 8 the incubator drawers 1 are each placed above a basket 9. Food and drink can optionally be present in this basket 9. When eggs 6 now hatch, chicks 10 are found to find their way as quickly as possible to basket 9. They can herein wriggle through the gratings 7 in the bottom of incubator drawer 1, although it is also possible that they crawl over the as yet unhatched eggs 6 and the remnants of the hatched eggs to the edge of incubator drawer 1 and there allow themselves to drop into basket 9 (fig. 3, 4) . Because the chicks 10 themselves thus seek out basket 9, they therefore no longer have to be separated from the eggshells and unhatched eggs when the hatching period has ended. No use need thus be made of the conventional, animal- unfriendly separating method using a bar conveyor.

It is surprising per se that eggs 6 hatch in upright position, since it has always been believed that eggs must be in a lying position in order to give the chicks the opportunity to peck into the egg and force their way out. Even more surprising is that eggs 6 hatch out even better in upright position than in lying position. Where heretofore a hatching percentage of just 80% was expected, this is found to be 82 or 83% when eggs 6 are hatched in incubator drawers 1. Although this does not appear very spectacular at first sight, it does mean that the waste percentage of 20% is reduced to 17 or 18%, i.e. there is 10 to 15% less waste.

As stated, food and/or drink can already be present in baskets 9, so that chicks 10 can be accommodated therein for a time. It is however also possible to envisage central facilities being present in hatcher 8 for providing chicks 10 with food and drink. In hatcher 8 as shown in fig. 5 and 6 there is thus suspended from roof 11 a feed system 12 which can travel along racks 13 in which incubator drawers 1 and baskets 9 are arranged. The feed system 12 herein has outflow openings 14 at the position of each level of racks 13. Further provided in this embodiment are nipple drinkers 15 which can be moved to and from baskets 9 by means of a winch system.

In an alternative embodiment of the hatcher (fig. 7) these provisions are also present, though not shown. In this embodiment incubator drawers 1 do not have to be placed separately in racks 13, but are arranged in trolleys 16 which can be moved in simple manner out of the setter into hatcher 7.

Although the invention has been elucidated above on the basis of embodiments, it is not limited thereto but can be varied in a variety of ways within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

1. Method for incubating and hatching eggs, comprising of:

- placing a number of eggs in an incubator drawer,

- placing the incubator drawer with the eggs in a setter and storing it therein for a first period under incubating conditions,

- removing animals that have emerged from the eggs and unhatched eggs from the hatcher at the end of the second period, characterized in that the eggs are stored standing upright in the hatcher.

2. Method as claimed in claim 1, characterized in that the eggs are transferred in the incubator drawer to the hatcher and stored standing upright therein.

3. Method as claimed in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the animals emerging from the eggs in the hatcher are collected in a basket in the vicinity of the incubator drawer.

4. Method as claimed in claim 3, characterized in that the incubator drawer is placed on or in the basket.

5. Method as claimed in claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the animals which have emerged from the eggs are provided in the basket with food and/or drink.

6. Method as claimed in claim 5, characterized in that the animals are housed in the basket for several more days after the end of the second period before being removed from the hatcher.

7. System for incubating and hatching eggs, comprising a setter which is adapted to accommodate and store under incubating conditions at least one incubator drawer having therein a number of eggs, and a hatcher which is adapted to accommodate and store the incubated eggs under hatching conditions, characterized in that the hatcher is adapted to store the eggs standing upright therein.

8. System as claimed in claim 7, characterized in that the hatcher is adapted to accommodate the at least one incubator drawer in which the eggs stand upright.

9. System as claimed in claim 7 or 8, characterized in that at least one basket is arranged in the hatcher in the vicinity of the or each incubator drawer for the purpose of collecting the animals emerging from the eggs.

10. System as claimed in claim 9, characterized in that the hatcher is adapted for placing of the or each incubator drawer on or in the associated basket.

11. System as claimed in claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the hatcher has means for supplying food and/or drink to the or each basket.

12. Hatcher evidently intended for use in the method as claimed in any of the claims 1-6 and/or in the system as claimed in any of the claims 7-11.

13. Incubator drawer evidently intended for use in the method as claimed in any of the claims 1-6 and/or in the system as claimed in any of the claims 7-11.

14. Basket evidently intended for use in the method as claimed in any of the claims 3-6 and/or in the system as claimed in any of the claims 9-11.