Click the image for a larger version. | Our hatchery building is broken down into four key areas; eggs are trayed, set in incubators, hatched, and then sorted through in the shipping room. |
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 | Eggs are sorted and put onto trays.
Each tray holds 276 eggs. |
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Click the image for a larger version. | Cull eggs are taken out while setting.
Cull eggs are either cracked, have calcium deposits, or have size problems. |
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 | After the eggs are trayed, they are then placed in a cooler on a cart. Each cart holds 26 trays for a total of 7176 eggs per cart. |
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 | The incubators at MacFarlane’s hold 21,528 eggs each and the heat and the humidity is monitored closely both manually and by alarms. The eggs automatically turn every half hour to evenly heat the egg and the embryo inside. This helps to imitate the way a hen would turn the eggs in the wild. |
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 | Eggs are transferred from the incubators to the hatchers at about 20 days of age. Each hatcher has six dollies with 13 trays. These hatchers hold around 20,000 + eggs. The correct temperature and humidity are monitored closely manually and by alarm units. |
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Click the image for a larger version. | The birds hatch and are left to dry.
Wire guards on the trays help keep the birds in the trays. |
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Click the image for a larger version. | Pheasants aren’t very large or active after hatching, they need some time to rest after using a large amount of energy to pip out of their shell. The ringneck chick is better colored to blend in with its surrounding and is about the same size as the white birds when hatched; however, the white bird will grow faster and bigger than the ringneck by a considerable amount. |
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Click the image for a
larger version. | Sometimes the chicks are separated according to their gender when being sent to the farm or to our customers. We look for the start of a waddle by gently pulling down on the skin under the lower jaw of the bird. Hens tend to have a dark band under the eye and no waddle present. |
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Click the image for a larger version. | Our chicks are shipped in cardboard boxes with a nutritional supplement that they can use while on their way to their destination. These boxes are well ventilated and are marked with brightly colored stickers to dictate how they are to be handled and what temperatures they should be left in. |
