When the eggs arrive from the hatching egg farm, the eggs are placed in incubators where they are kept warm and automatically turned gently at regular intervals. An Egg will hatch around the 21 day mark. The incubators, or hatchers, are then opened to reveal thousands of chicks who have pecked their way out of their shells. The remainder of the yolk sac, that fed the growing chick during incubation, has now been absorbed into the chick’s body and provides it with adequate nourishment for the first 72 hours of life.

Fun Fact: Fertilized eggs are not like the ones you get at the grocery store. The grocery store eggs are unfertilized and come from hens raised specifically to lay eggs for human consumption. Fertilized eggs that hatch into chicks raised for meat production are called broiler hatching eggs, and they are fertilized naturally with the male (rooster) mounting the female (hen).

It is important that the chicks are kept warm and protected from any drafts as they are readied for transport. All day old chicks are then vaccinated against the BIG 3 poultry diseases, New Castle disease, Marek disease, Gumboro disease. And the layers get vaccinated for infectous Bronchitis. They are carefully placed in clean and disinfected crates, free of any sharp edges that might injure them. Once in the crate and on the clean, climate-controlled transport truck, they are ready for the journey to their new home: a coop where they will be raised for about 35 days until they become broiler chickens ready for market.