Bacterial contamination on eggs during incubation and hatching, and of fluffs of newly‐hatched chicks

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Abstract
Average numbers of bacteria on clean and dirty eggs produced from a specified-pathogen-free chicken flock were 103.0 and 104.5, respectively. When the eggs were washed with running tap water at about 40.degree. C, the respective bacterial counts were reduced to 102.0 and 102.7, the latter difference being not significant. After fumigation with formaldehyde from 40 ml formalin (372 g formaldehyde/l) and 20 g potassium permanganate/m3 for 1 h, no bacteria were recovered from clean eggs by agar plate culture, while a small number of bacteria were detected in 3 out of 5 dirty eggs. Average numbers of bacteria detected in clean fumigated eggs were 100.8-101.1 during the first 19 days of incubation, and 101.2 and 101.4 were recovered on days 20 and 21 of incubation, respectively. At the end of hatching, eggs containing dead embryos were highly contaminated with 103.8 organisms on average. Fluffs of newly-hatched chicks scattered inside the hatcher were contaminated with bacteria at 104.0 to 108.4 organisms/g. Water in the basin placed in the hatcher and floating fluffs in water were highly contaminated with bacteria.