This document discusses chick grading procedures at hatcheries and farms. It describes how chicks are graded at hatcheries based on sex, quality parameters like activity level, down/appearance, eyes, legs, and weight. Chicks are classified into grades A, B, C based on weight and abnormalities. Grading is also done at farms to separate low and high weight chicks. Sexing methods like vent and feather sexing are outlined. The advantages of grading include providing quality chicks and uniform flocks. Proper packing and recording of data is also emphasized.

1. Presented By;
Usman Khalid
Roll No.27
Ucv&AS
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2. MEANING OF DIFFERENT WORDS
Chick: Means poultry under one month old.
Grade: means the classification of poultry or
poultry products according to the prescribed
standards and grading have corresponding
meaning.
Standard: means those rules, tests, measures or
specifications by which the quality or grade of a
poultry product is determined.
Baby chicks: means chicks and poults that have
never been fed.
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3. There are different types of grading of chicks
which are as follows;
•Grading at hatchery
•Grading at farm
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4. GRADING AT HATCHERY
There are different types of grading which is done at
hatchery. It is done by pasgar scoring method.
Grading by sex
Grading by quality
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5. GRADING BY SEX
Sexing is separation of males and females of day old
chicks.
Japanese/vent sexing
Feather sexing
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6. PARAMETERS USED TO ASSESS CHICK
QUALITY
Activity
Down and appearance
Retracted yolk
Eyes
Legs
Naval
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7. Remaining membrane
Remaining yolk
Beak
Abdomen
Weight
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8. ACTIVITY
Chick was placed on its back and observed to see how
quickly it returns to its feet. An immediate return to
its feet was considered strong, while delay (more than
3s) return or remaining on its back was considered
weak.
Quality Scores
Good 1
Week 0
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9. Beak
Beak clean or dirty and crossed is checked.
Quality Score
Clean 1
Dirty and crossed 0
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10. Abdomen
Abdomen is checked either hard or soft.
Quality Score
Soft 1
Hard 0
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11. Wt. Of Chick
We select A Grade ,Starter and B Grade Chicks.
A Grade Chick
Wt.38-45g
Free from any abnormality
Ideal wt.42g
Starter chick
Wt. below 38g
Free from any abnormality
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12. B Grade Chicks
Wt. Below 38 g
Some abnormality (Less activity)
These are also saleable chicks
C Grade Chicks
Below 34g
Any apparent abnormality
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13. Abnormalities in Chicks
Button formation in vent
High humidity
High temperature
Unhealed navel
High temp.
High humidity
Crippled chicks
Due to temp. variations
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14. Crossed beaked
Missing eyes
Twisted neck
Spraddle legs
Swollen head
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15. DOWN AND APPEARANCE
Chick should dry and clean( free from adhering dried
yolk, shell and membranes.
Quality Scores
Clean and dry 1
Dirty and wet 0
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16. RETRACTED YOLK
Chick was placed on its back on hand palm. The
height of its abdomen is estimated. The consistency of
its abdomen to touch was then estimated. Chicks that
had bodies with large yolks and hard to touch was
considered of poor quality.
Quality Scores
Normal 1
Large yolk hard touch 0
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17. EYES
Open, alert and bright were considered of good
quality. Open but not bright were fair and closed were
of poor quality.
Quality Scores
Open and bright 1
Open but not bright 0
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18. LEGS
Chick was put on its feet and whether it could stand
easily were observed. Toe conformation was assessed
as was hock color.
Quality Scores
Normal legs & toes 1
One infected leg ½
Two infected legs 0
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19. NAVAL
Naval closure and coloration of the skin around the
naval was observed. Skin color different from the
chick skin color was considered poor quality.
Quality Scores
Completely closed and clean 1
Not closed & not discolored ½
Not closed and discolored 0
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20. REMAINING MEMBRANE
Remaining membrane was categorized as very large,
large and small.
Quality Scores
No membrane 1
Small membrane ½
Large membrane ¼
Very large membrane 0
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21. REMAINING YOLK
Remaining yolk adhered to the skin and down were
categorized as very large, large and small.
Quality Scores
No yolk 1
Small yolk ½
Large yolk ¼
Very large yolk 0
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22. GRADING AT FARM
At farm separate low weight birds and feed them
separately and provide a bit large amount of ration
then the heavy weight chicks.
The feed of heavy weight chicks is maintained so as
to get a uniform body weight among all the chicks.
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23. 
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24. ADVANTAGES OF CHICK GRADING
Achievement of purpose of providing quality chicks
to the customers.
There is good reputation of the hatchery
Uniformity among the flock is maintained.
Removal of birds which will not show better
performance in the future.
Better profit is obtained.
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25. Sexing Of Chicks
Several methods are used to determine the sex of a
day-old chicks. Some are effective only with certain
breeds or crosses, while others are universal. The two
chief methods of sexing chicks are
 feather sexing
vent sexing.
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26. Vent sexing
Vent sexing, also known simply as venting
Involves squeezing the feces out of the chick, which
opens up the chick's anal vent (called a cloaca)
slightly, allowing the chicken sexer to see if the chick
has a small "bump", which would indicate that the
chick is a male.
 Some females also have bumps, though they are
rarely as large as those of male chicks
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27. Feather sexing
The sex-linked slow-feathering gene can be used for
crosses where the sex of the chicks can be determined
at hatching time by the length of the wing feathers.
Female chicks have primary wing feathers that are
significantly longer than the coverts.
The male chicks have primary wing feathers that are
shorter, about the same length as the coverts.
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28. PACKING OF CHICKS
The chicks are packed in chick boxes of standard size.
They are soft at the time of packing so leave them for
4-5 hours to become hard.
Attach label of sex, breed, date of hatch, and grade of
chicks on the chick box.
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29. RECORD THE DATA
The following data should be recorded.
Breed
Number of eggs set
Number of quality chicks hatched
% age of total hatchability
Number of “grade outs”
% age of “grade outs”
% age of extra chicks given to customer.
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30. Thanks
Any Question???