Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 8/29/19


Aviagen announced the grand opening of a new parent stock hatchery in Quitman, Ga., that will become the largest hatchery in the United States and ninth largest in the company’s fleet.

The 78,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility can set 1.1 million eggs per week. Aviagen invested $28 million in the hatchery, which will result in the creation of as many as 100 new jobs.

The new hatchery, which took under a year to build, became fully operational at the end of May, with a first shipment including an export and a domestic order in mid-June.

Powering the hatchery’s high production capacity are next-generation incubators and hatchers. Modern environmental and hygiene-control features ensure the maximum health, welfare and biosecurity for the hatching eggs and chicks, Aviagen notes.

The hatchery also boasts HatchTech, representing some of the latest innovations in chick storage. While chicks wait in these rooms before transport, they are kept comfortable with the ideal temperature, humidity, airflow and other environmental conditions. Aviagen’s Sallisaw, Okla., hatchery also uses this technology.

The Quitman GP hatchery will help Aviagen better serve customers in the United States and abroad, while meeting increasing demand for quality breeding stock.

The Quitman hatchery will supply domestic customers, but it also is strategically located near major interstate corridors, allowing easy travel to Miami and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta international airports for export to more than 80 countries around the world. Aviagen officials expect that the majority of international shipments from the Quitman hatchery will go to customers in Latin America.

Also part of Aviagen’s expanding footprint in the United States, the company also invested in a new feed processing facility in Sallisaw, Okla., last year.

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