We did something different yesterday on the third day of the Ozark-Osage ranch tour—we visited a chicken hatchery. The Tyson representatives were quite particular, however. The Tyson Incubation Technology Center (ITC) in Springdale, AR, is no mere hatchery despite being engaged in incubating and hatching chicks.
The name of the game was “automated precision” at the ITC. It is new, first of its kind, cutting-edge, and as fully automated as was feasible. For example, after the fertilized eggs are brought into the facility, they and the chicks are not handled by humans again. Additionally, it is young, having opened its doors in September of 2017. By comparison, Tyson’s 33 other hatcheries average 30-35 years old.
The Tyson tour guides explained that the commercial chicken industry is broken down into different stages much like the cattle industry is. Companies like Tyson maintain the proprietary genetics and bloodlines much like the seedstock portion of our industry. They provide breeding animals to contracted breeder farms where the hens lay the fertilized eggs.
Tour members peppered the Tyson guides with many questions about the genetics of commercial chickens, how they’ve changed in recent years, and how selection works. The guides leading the group I was in both raised cattle, in addition to working for Tyson, and explained that the commercial chicken industry has an analog to EPDs (expected progeny differences) by which genetic traits can be measured. However, they said that that information is proprietary and did not go into detail about it.
The guides also explained that there are commercial breeds, or strains or bloodlines, that are also proprietary. The ITC specifically raised eggs from the Cobb 500 and Cobb 700 varieties of chickens. The Cobb 500 is a fast-growing, feed-efficient breed strain that produces a 2.10-lb. finished bird; what consumers know as a Cornish game hen. The Cobb 700 is a breast meat-focused breed strain that produces a 7.35-lb. finished bird.
Incubation and hatchery facilities collect fertilized eggs from breeder farms, set the eggs through to hatching, then ship out chicks to contracted grower farms that raise the birds to market weight. The ITC occupied the incubation/hatchery portion of the commercial chicken industry’s supply chain.
Walking through the ITC
Unfortunately, Tyson did not allow for any photos or recording devices within the center, meaning this will be a less visual overview than the past two. However, the tour guides shared a lot with us about the facility’s process and how it works at every stage.
The first stage was a “fresh air” area, which looked very much like a long loading hanger with a distinct odor. An environmental inspector with Tyson was part of one of the groups and explained that the whole facility was equipped with a massive air filtration system to clean the air coming into and out of the facility. He said this was both to ensure the incubating eggs and subsequent chicks had the healthiest possible environment and to abide by all federal air requirements.
Next, we moved into a slightly cool holding area filled with what looked like a tall bellhop’s dolly filled about six feet high with racks of light brown eggs. The tour guide leading my group called these “buggies.” The egg buggies were equipped with sprayers to keep humidity at the appropriate levels and each rack in the buggies could be rotated to 45-degree angles to keep the embryos from sticking to the sides of the shells.
This area could hold about 6 million fertilized eggs in a sort of stasis so that whole groups could be “set” at predicted intervals. Eggs can be put on hold like this for about 10 days without affecting viability.
Roughly 516,000 eggs are “set” each day. This means the eggs, in their wheeled buggies, are moved into massive incubator rooms that keep heat, humidity, and airflow just right for hatching chicks. It takes 504 hours, or 21 days, for a chicken egg to hatch once it has been set.
The ITC uses the Jamesway Single-Stage incubation machines. These machines are effectively little climate-controlled rooms. Several dozen were arranged in what looked like long hallways of flat-faced white walls with doors and digital control and display panels evenly spaced throughout. Each digital control gave a readout of the temperature, humidity, CO2 listed in parts per million, and a record of how long the current group of eggs had been incubating.
At day 18.5 in the incubation process, the buggies of eggs are removed from the machines and quickly and carefully run through an automated process. The racks of eggs are removed from the buggies, the eggs are injected with a vaccine, and the eggs are removed from their racks and placed in “baskets” in preparation for hatching. All of this is done through robotic arms, automatic processes, and conveyor belts. Humans oversee it but are not directly involved. The baskets are then loaded back into the buggies and the buggies are returned to an incubation machine.
On day 21, the chicks hatch. Tyson tour guides told us the ITC hatching rate is about 86 percent. Since the process is so well understood and predictable, the hatching can be timed so the chicks are not in the incubation machines for more than about an hour after hatching. The Tyson representatives said the goal is to get the chicks processed and sent off to their grow farms as quickly as possible to prevent dehydration.
Once a room full of chicks have hatched, the buggies of baskets full of chicks are run through another automated process. Again, by robotic arms and conveyor belts, the baskets are removed from the buggies. Once out of the baskets, chicks are sorted from the egg shells. The shells are processed—wet membranes and remaining yolks are sorted off for pet food and shells are used for things like soil amendments—and the chicks go on through a human-run grading process. Chicks that are judged to be unfit are removed and euthanized. The remaining chicks are vaccinated.
Vaccinating eggs and chicks is understandably different than for larger animals. When the eggs are vaccinated, automated “punches” with short needles pierce the egg shell and inject the vaccine into the air pocket inside the egg without rupturing the membrane that holds the developing chick. When the hours-old chicks are vaccinated, they are sprayed with the vaccine solution so that they either inhale it, it absorbs through mucosal membranes, or they preen it off their fluff and ingest it that way.
Vaccines given to eggs and chicks vary throughout the year and by location. The Tyson representatives at the ITC told us they were using a killed virus vaccine for coccidiosis and a respiratory issue common in chickens.
Once processed, 100 chicks are loaded into a shipping basket. Shipping baskets go out to the grow farms around the area.
Fun stuff
We were on a tight schedule yesterday, so we left the ITC relatively quickly after the tour. We proceeded to AC Chicken House for a quick lunch of excellent fried chicken and other Southern favorites; biscuits and gravy, coleslaw, green beans, cobbler, and—of course—a lot of sweet tea. After lunch, we jumped back on the buses and headed for Branson, MO.
There was a considerable patch of rain on the way that threatened to throw a wrench—or a river—in our plans. Many drivers had pulled off the highway because the visibility was so poor, but we pressed on carefully. Those of us on Bus 2 got to experience some of the downpour when the bus started leaking! Luckily, we were only a few minutes from Branson.
For what seemed like the first time on the trip, we arrived at the dock of the Branson Belle riverboat not only on time, but ahead of schedule! We got aboard just as the rain was petering out.
The massive three-story tall, 300-foot-long Branson Belle riverboat boasts a full-sized theatre stage and ballroom. Yesterday’s cruise on Table Rock Lake was sold out with almost 700 people onboard. We were treated to some delicious slow-cooked pot roast, mashed red potatoes, peas, and baked chicken. Dessert included an ice cream pie and a singing, dancing, magic show performance from the crew’s troupe.
The singers performed covers of rock favorites from the ’50s through ’80s, movie music with numerous costume changes, and a few gospel songs. Tap dancers performed along with the singers. Comedian/magician Christopher James played master of ceremonies with the occasional magic trick and comedic “help” from the audience.
All around, tour members said it was a good performance on the Branson Belle, a unique and educational experience at the ITC, and an all-around great day despite the weather. — Kerry Halladay, WLJ editor
