A challenging start
Dust
During incubation, the first chicks
generally hatch at day 19 of incubation. From that moment on, the percentage of hatched chicks gradually increases until about 95% has hatched at the end of day 20. The increasing density of hatched chicks results in rising levels of fine dust (PM10 i.e. dust particles ≤ 10 µm) since dust is released from the chicks as they dry up. The dust is then spread through the hatcher by high air speed. As can
be seen in Figure 1, the peak in dust concentration in circulating air, which coincides with the peak in the hatch window, reaches PM10 levels up to 3.5 mg/m3. After the peak of hatch, dust levels gradually decrease due to ventilation and deposition.