Every Healthy Chick Starts with a Clean Egg
When it comes to hatchability and chick quality, biosecurity begins long before a chick hatches.
Bacteria on the outside of a fertile egg can enter the hatchery and affect developing embryos, leading to lower hatch rates, poorer chick quality, and a greater risk of disease. This is especially true for floor eggs, which are exposed to more dirt, manure, and bacteria than eggs laid in nest boxes.
Many breeder operations either don't disinfect eggs or rely on manual cleaning with chemical wipes. While chemical disinfectants can be effective, they require significant labor and can be difficult to apply consistently.
To better understand the options, Signify conducted a study comparing UV-C egg disinfection using the BioShift™ UV-C Chamber with traditional chemical wipe disinfection.
The goal was simple:
- Does UV-C reduce bacteria on hatching eggs?
- How does it compare to manual chemical disinfection?
- Which method saves more time and money?
Why Egg Disinfection Matters
Every egg has the potential to carry bacteria on its shell.
If harmful bacteria are introduced into the hatchery, they can affect hatchability, chick quality, and overall flock health.
One of the biggest findings from the study was just how much dirtier floor eggs are than nest eggs.
Before any disinfection, floor eggs contained 76 times more bacteria than nest eggs.
This reinforces why proper egg handling and sanitation are critical—especially for valuable breeder, grandparent (GP), and great-grandparent (GGP) eggs.
Study Results: UV-C Significantly Reduced Bacteria
Researchers compared four treatment methods:
- No disinfection
- UV-C disinfection with the BioShift Chamber
- Chemical disinfectant wipes
- Chemical wipes followed by UV-C
Results for Nest Eggs
| Treatment | Bacteria Reduction |
|---|---|
| UV-C (BioShift) | 96.1% |
| Chemical Wipes | 99.4% |
| UV-C + Chemical Wipes | 99.9% |
Results for Floor Eggs
| Treatment | Bacteria Reduction |
|---|---|
| UV-C (BioShift) | 95.1% |
| Chemical Wipes | 99.2% |
| UV-C + Chemical Wipes | 99.97% |
What These Results Mean
UV-C light alone removed approximately 95% of bacteria from both nest and floor eggs.
Chemical disinfectant wipes achieved slightly higher bacterial reduction, but they required significantly more labor because every egg had to be cleaned by hand.
Using UV-C together with chemical disinfection provided the highest level of bacterial reduction, making it a valuable option for operations with the strictest biosecurity requirements.
The Biggest Advantage: Labor Savings
While bacterial reduction is important, the greatest difference between the two methods was labor.
BioShift UV-C Chamber
- Processes up to 600 eggs at one time
- Requires approximately 2 seconds of hands-on labor per egg
- Can disinfect every egg in a 15,000-bird breeder farm using about 2 labor hours per day
Manual Chemical Wiping
- Every egg must be cleaned individually
- Requires approximately 10 seconds per egg
- Requires approximately 41 labor hours per day on the same farm
That's nearly 39 fewer labor hours every day.
For hatcheries and breeder farms facing labor shortages, automation can make a significant difference.
Lower Cost Over the Life of the System
Labor isn't the only expense.
Manual egg disinfection also requires:
- Individual disinfectant wipes
- Ongoing employee training
- Consistent cleaning procedures
- Additional labor every day
When researchers evaluated the total cost of ownership, they found:
- BioShift costs approximately 25 times less per egg than manual wipe disinfection.
- A 15,000-bird breeder farm could save more than $3.1 million over five years by using the BioShift UV-C Chamber instead of manual chemical wiping.
Those savings come from reduced labor, lower material costs, and a more efficient disinfection process.
Why UV-C Technology Works
UV-C light is a proven biosecurity technology used in healthcare, water treatment, food processing, and animal agriculture.
The BioShift UV-C Chamber uses 254-nanometer germicidal UV-C light to damage the DNA and RNA of bacteria, preventing microorganisms from reproducing and spreading.
Unlike manual cleaning, UV-C provides a consistent, repeatable process that helps reduce variation between employees and eliminates many of the challenges associated with hand wiping.
Key Takeaways for Breeder Farms and Hatcheries
This study demonstrated several important findings:
✔ Floor eggs carried 76 times more bacteria than nest eggs.
✔ UV-C reduced bacteria by approximately 95% on both nest and floor eggs.
✔ Chemical wipes achieved approximately 99% bacterial reduction but required substantially more labor.
✔ Using UV-C together with chemical disinfection provided the highest level of bacterial reduction.
✔ BioShift reduced hands-on labor by nearly 39 hours per day compared to manual wiping.
✔ The BioShift UV-C Chamber costs approximately 25 times less per egg than manual chemical disinfection over the life of the system.
A Smarter Approach to Hatchery Biosecurity
No single biosecurity practice can eliminate disease risk.
However, reducing bacterial contamination on hatching eggs is an important step toward improving hatchability, chick quality, and overall flock health.
For breeder farms and hatcheries looking to improve efficiency while strengthening biosecurity, UV-C technology offers a fast, consistent, and cost-effective solution.
By combining proven germicidal UV-C technology with automated processing, the BioShift UV-C Chamber helps producers reduce labor, lower operating costs, and improve egg sanitation—without sacrificing performance.
Learn More About BioShift UV-C Technology
BioShift™ UV-C Chambers are designed to help breeder farms and hatcheries improve egg disinfection, strengthen biosecurity, and reduce labor costs through fast, consistent UV-C technology.
Contact us to learn how BioShift can help improve your hatchery's biosecurity program.