R. Michael Hulet, associate professor of poultry science, has been working for the past year to analyze the hatchability of high yielding broiler breeders.

"Last year, I was able to take a sabbatical study in Holland where I worked in a primary breeder company, Hybro B.V., a division of Nutreco Feeds," Hulet said. "I was able to study some aspects of artificial insemination and help them refine the process in their company."

Recently, industry experts noticed a decrease in the quality of chicks being hatched from commercial hatcheries.

"When we investigated, we found that the temperature was too high for optimum incubation," Hulet said. "This had gradually changed in the past few years as the poultry industry started using more efficient strain of broiler, which produced more meat and a faster growth and amount."

Hulet explained that the normal body temperature of a mature chicken is 104 degrees Fahrenheit, and a hen would properly maintain the temperature of the eggs by frequently turning them over.

"We wanted to determine if the heat production that we currently use was correct for our commercial incubation systems," Hulet said. "What we found was that the incubation heat coming from the eggs was nearly twice what had been calculated earlier."

Hulet and other researchers then determined that the temperature was too hot for the embryos and led to decreased hatchability and chick quality.

Poultry scientists are rarely in the spotlight due to the nature of their work, said Guy Barbato, associate professor of poultry science.

"It's kind of a hidden industry," Barbato said. "The whole operation is owned by a handful of people."

Barbato explains that the U.S. poultry industry is booming. "We're verging on having 10 billion chickens produced in the U.S. per year," he said. "It doesn't get the publicity that other agricultural areas do, but it is extremely important because of the phenomenal amount of jobs available."

The average American consumes 100 pounds of poultry per year, Barato said. About one-third of the world's chicken yield is produced in the United States, and the industry continues to grow.

"The area of study was interesting to me because it represented a problem that was observed by the poultry industry that fit well with my background and interest," Hulet said. "Although I have been studying different aspects of reproduction in turkeys and chickens for the past 20 years, this area of temperature effects on hatchability has just been initiated in the past four years."

Hulet has studied some aspects of artificial insemination, and he helped Nutreco refine the process in their company.

"We hope that our cooperative work on many aspects of this subject will lead to healthier, higher quality, and more productive chickens for the poultry industry," Hulet said.