Petersime is continually striving to improve its incubation technology. HatchScan™, an extension of our Embryo-Response Incubation™ series, ensures the continuity of temperature control throughout the entire setter-to-hatcher cycle and safeguards chick comfort once the hatch is complete. This enables the hatcher to enhance and optimize what has been achieved in the setter, significantly improving hatch results and chick welfare.
Using nature as a reference for our product development
Embryo-Response Incubation™ is Petersime's unique technology series that listens and responds to embryo signals, emulating the experience the embryo has in the nest. Over twenty years ago, we introduced OvoScan™, one of the first technologies developed as part of this approach. Installed in over 10,000 Petersime setters worldwide, OvoScan™ automatically monitors and controls the eggshell temperature in the setter environment, mimicking how the mother hen controls the temperature of her eggs and delivering high hatch results. To live up to the standard of technology trendsetter, we still had to cover the second part of the incubation cycle, the hatcher environment. With HatchScan™, we now present the solution to ensure the continuity of temperature control throughout the entire setter-to-hatcher cycle. Additionally, it prioritizes the comfort of the chicks once they have hatched.
“In nature, there is no distinction between ‘setter’ and ‘hatcher’. The mother hen seamlessly transitions through the stages of incubation, creating ideal conditions for her embryos and chicks,” says Roger Banwell, Senior Hatchery Expert at Petersime. “In commercial incubation, the best approach is to emulate nature. Thanks to HatchScan™, a non-disruptive thermal transition between setter and hatcher is guaranteed, and the hatcher air temperature is automatically and continuously adjusted to the needs of each specific batch of hatching eggs. Replicating the conditions experienced in the nest always delivers the best hatch results.”
Ensuring the continuity of proper eggshell temperature control
From the onset of the hatching cycle until the moment of hatch, HatchScan™ captures the exact eggshell temperature using infrared surface temperature measurement. This enables the hatcher to automatically start at the optimal air temperature and maintain the target eggshell temperature, guaranteeing a 100% smooth thermal transition between setter and hatcher. Additionally, the hatcher air temperature is continuously adapted in response to the actual eggshell temperature, ensuring that the core temperature of the developing embryos does not deviate from the optimum. Once emerged from the shell, the newly hatched chicks go through a period of recovery after their intense hatching process. During this period, HatchScan™ controls the ambient temperature directly in the basket, ensuring the environment is ideal for the chicks to feel comfortable until trolley pull-out.
Up to this point, configuring the optimum starting temperature and temperature profile for hatchers has relied on the expertise and experience of hatchery managers. With the launch of HatchScan™, Petersime delivers yet another new technology that automatically and continuously monitors bio-signals to consider ‘egg variables’ such as breed, egg age, size, and transfer time, thereby enhancing both hatch results and animal welfare.
HatchScan™ is a patent-pending technology, unique to Petersime and standard available on all X-Streamer™ hatcher models. It has been officially unveiled to a global audience during EuroTier 2024. Would you like to know more about this innovation? Don’t hesitate to contact us: our sales team is ready to answer all your questions.
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