Turkey incubation requires many species-specific considerations. As correctly using Petersime’s incubation equipment and technology can make a noticeable difference in hatchability, we offer all-round support to help customers reach maximum hatchery potential. This article reports on a recent case study by our incubation team, who assisted Marek Górski in Poland with remote online incubation support and a custom-made incubation program for maximum hatch results.
Project info
About one year ago, Polish poultry business Wylegarnia Indykow Marek Górski expanded its turkey hatchery with 4 BioStreamer™ incubators. Having previously used our Bio-Iris™ control system in the hatchery, the company requested Petersime’s assistance to finetune the incubation process of its new incubators. Since travel was not possible last spring due to early pandemic restrictions, we offered primarily online incubation support to guide the customer’s process.
In an introductory video conference with Marek Górski, Petersime incubation consultants Simona Gheorghitoiu and Mohamed Sobhy Ahmed touched on some critical checkpoints for the different procedures performed in the hatchery, such as the egg setting pattern, weight loss procedure, weight loss percentage at transfer, incubation programs in both setter and hatcher, and more. Based on these control points, they decided to focus on improving the customer’s preheating and weight loss procedures while also strengthening the embryos from setting until transfer to optimize the hatchery’s results.
A custom-made incubation program for increased hatch results
To improve the turkey incubation process, Global Incubation Consultant Simona Gheorghitoiu introduced two new procedures:
- A procedure with precise instructions on preheating divided into time frames with different air parameters. This procedure aims to bring the eggs to a more uniform – and thus, stronger – stage of early embryonic development before incubation, enabling an overall better performance and a narrower hatch window.
- An adjusted weight loss procedure to ensure all eggs that are transferred from setter to hatcher have a minimum moisture loss of 11-12%.
Initially, it was difficult for Petersime to access Marek Górski’s history graphs and parameters remotely due to the absence of a hatchery monitoring system. Moreover, the hatchery uses fresh air taken from outside, challenging the precise regulation of incubation on hot and humid summer days. Nonetheless, Marek Górski soon noticed the positive effects of the adjusted preheating and weight loss procedures by reaching better hatch results and producing higher-quality chicks.
Later in 2020, the lifted travel restrictions allowed our service team to travel to Poland and install the Eagle Eye™ software, making Petersime’s support plan truly online as all hatchery information could then be accessed remotely.
Already seeing a clear improvement in the hatch results, Simona Gheorghitoiu assisted the customer in the further fine-tuning of the incubation performance. After setting up a custom-made incubation program specially catered for the eggs processed at Marek Górski, the new BioStreamer™ incubators reached the desired optimal results, surpassing those of the older-generation machines, with the production of more high-quality chicks and minimal hatch losses.
“I highly appreciate the transparency and openness of everyone at Marek Górski, and their trust in Petersime’s ability to guide the incubation process in the right direction,” said Simona Gheorghitoiu. “Thanks to the constant exchange of information between us and the customer, 90% of which was done remotely, we were able to efficiently find the right approach to achieve the right results.”
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