Abstract
Previous work has identified an effect of hatch time on chick femur mineralization. This experiment assessed the impact of hatch time and a 24-h post-hatch unfed time period on chick bone mineralization and yolk mineral utilization. In early hatching chicks, yolk Mg, Zn, K, P, Fe, and Cu decreased by 40 to 50% over the 24-h post-hatch unfed time period, whereas yolk Ca and Na decreased by 25 to 40% (P = 0.026). Yolk Sr was intermediate, decreasing by 37%. Late hatching chicks which had been hatched for no more than 30 h had a higher femur bone ash percentage compared to early hatching chicks which had spent over a 30-hour sojourn unfed in the incubator (P = 0.013). These results indicate that removing chicks from the incubator within 30 h of their hatch is likely to benefit their femoral mineralization.