Hatcheries
The Baiada Group operate a number of hatcheries in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia which receive up to three (3) and a half million fertilized eggs each week from the company's breeding farms for incubation.
The incubation and hatching of eggs is a precise and sensitive process designed to replicate the function of the "mother hen". Any significant fluctuations in temperature and humidity can have a significant effect on the effectiveness of the hatching process and the quality of the chick produced.
The Baiada Group produces two different breeds of chicken. A chick that will be reared for the purpose of producing table eggs the ISA Brown egg layer and the second type, a chick that will ultimately be used for poultry meat production - the Cobb 500 high meat yield broiler.
Interesting Facts
The components of a live broiler, inedible by humans represents approximately 30% of the total weight of the chicken and will eventually be recycled as protein.