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From Pips to Peeps: Cornell Cooperative Extension To Host Virtual Hatchery School

Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Southwest New York Dairy, Livestock, and Field Crops Program will offer “Pips to Peeps: Virtual Hatchery School,” a partnership between Amy Barkley, CCE livestock and beginning farm specialist, and Emily Shoop, Penn State poultry extension specialist, starting April 10.

Through the program, participants will learn how to develop a small-scale breeding and hatching program. The school includes three lectures and virtual, interactive laboratories on topics including the basics of breeding flocks, incubation, and insight into hatch rates & resulting chick quality. Classes will be held three consecutive Saturdays, starting April 10, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Class dates and topics are:

¯ 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 10 — Basics of Breeding Flocks. The lecture will include selecting birds for a breeding program, appropriate male:female ratios, biosecurity, NPIP, choosing sound eggs for incubation, egg storage, and culling eggs. The lab work includes selecting quality birds and eggs

¯ 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 17 — Introduction to Incubation. The lecture will include choosing the right incubator, setting up an incubation room, incubator and egg management, hatchers and their management, biosecurity, cleaning and disinfection, and preparing a brooder. Lab work will include a walk through an incubation room and incubator set-up, candling demonstration

¯ 111 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 24 — Hatch Rates and Chick Quality. The lecture will include how to differentiate good and poor chick quality and determine how breeder flock and hatchery management affect this. Learn the different reasons for “failure to hatch” and what hatchery residue can tell about the incubation process. Lab work will include hatchery residue and chick quality review.

Registration for the series will be ongoing through the day of the last class, with recordings and notes of past classes available for interested participants to review on their own. There is a $25 class registration fee which covers, in addition to all three live classes, access to the lecture and lab recordings as well as PDFs of the class notes. Register at extension.psu.edu/from-pips-to-peeps-hatchery-school. Printed copies of the notes and CD recordings of the lectures will be made available upon request.

For more information about the series, contact Barkley at amb544@cornell.edu or 640- 0844.

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