Grading Day-Old Chick Quality From A to B

Why a grade is a number, and a feeling is not

Every farmer forms an opinion about a box of chicks the moment the lid comes off. The opinion is useful, but it cannot be compared with anything. Your neighbour's "they look good" and your own "they look a bit flat" cannot be set side by side next season. A grade turns the opinion into a count. Once you have counts for three boxes from two hatcheries, you can see what you are actually buying rather than what you remember.

Grading does not replace the arrival count, and it is not a diagnosis. It is a fast and consistent way to describe how the chicks look and behave on the day they arrive, using the same test every time. That consistency is what makes it useful, and it is also what makes it easy to skip when you are tired after a long drive to collect the box.

If you already read our guide to telling a healthy chick from a weak one, this is the next step. That guide describes what each sign looks like. This one turns those signs into a score you can write on a sheet.

Three outcomes: A, B and reject

The scale in this guide has three outcomes. A and B are grades. Anything that fails B is a reject. Do not agonise over borderline chicks on the day. Pick the outcome that matches most of the criteria, note what you saw, and move on to the next chick.

• A meets every criterion in the table below. The chick is bright, dry, standing, with a closed clean navel, straight legs and a firm body.
• B meets all but one criterion, or meets every criterion only just. Many B chicks recover well with steady heat and easy access to water, but they need watching.
• Reject fails two or more criteria, or fails one of them badly. An open or wet navel, or legs that will not hold the chick up, are reject signs on their own.

The breeds page describes what each line is for, which helps you decide what a healthy chick of that line should look like on the day. Write the grade as a letter on your sheet, not as a feeling. A row that says "B, slightly slow" is more useful in six months than a row that says "a bit off".

The six criteria, and what each grade looks like

Grade every chick you check against the same six criteria. The table sets out what an A, a B and a reject look like for each one.

Two of these criteria deserve extra attention on every chick. The navel tells you the most about hatch hygiene and how the chick was handled in its first hours. The vent area tells you about the journey, because a chick that has been chilled or has scoured in the box will show it there first. Check those two on every bird you grade, even if you only sample the rest.

If you are comparing hatcheries by the same sheet, a clear price list makes the job easier. Our day-old chick prices page lists the starting figures, and the quote in your hand is the one that counts.

Body feel is the criterion most farmers underrate. A chick that feels light for its size is often one that has been on the road too long, or one that hatched late in the set and did not get the full yolk reserve.

How many chicks to sample, and where to take them from

If you can handle all 50 chicks quickly without stressing the box, grade all 50. Most farmers cannot do that without disturbing the birds, so sample ten. Take two from each corner of the box, and two from the middle. Do not pick the chicks sitting on top, because they are the easiest to lift and the most likely to look better than the rest. The corners are where cold and crowding show first.

Ten is a sample, not a census. It will tell you whether the box is mostly A, mostly B, or has a real problem. It will not tell you how many of the other forty have a fault. So if your sample shows two or three rejects, go ahead and grade the full box. If it shows none, a sample of ten is enough to record and move on.

Write down whether you graded the full box or a sample, every time. A sample of ten and a full count of fifty are not the same evidence, and you should not compare them as if they were.

Worked numbers: a box of fifty graded in full

Here is a full grading round on one box of 50. Grade every chick, and write the tally down as you go rather than at the end.

A box that is 88 per cent A is one you can brood with confidence. The four B chicks go into the brooder with a little more attention in the first days. The two rejects are the chicks that would not stand. If either of them dies the same day, it joins the dead line on your arrival sheet and goes into the photo.

Now the same box, graded the other way. Suppose it came back as 22 A, 21 B and 7 reject. That is 44 per cent A, 42 per cent B and 14 per cent reject. The chicks are not beyond saving, but the box is no longer one to ignore. It needs a written note to the hatchery, a closer watch in the brooder, and a serious conversation before you order from the same batch again.

What a box with lots of B asks of your brooder

B is not a replacement case. Under our rule, replacement applies to chicks dead on arrival. A B chick that lives is simply a chick that needs more attention for a few days. A B-heavy box changes what you do in the brooder more than what you claim from the hatchery, although you still report the pattern.

• Keep the B chicks in their own group for the first day, close to the heat and within a few steps of water and feed, and note who is eating and drinking at each check.
• Keep the temperature even across the brooder, because chicks that are weaker in the first hours show temperature problems first.
• Check the drinkers at least twice a day, and more often in hot weather, since a dry drinker is a problem chicks cannot tell you about.
• Write down the batch, the grades and what you saw by day three and day seven.
• Ask the hatchery to look at the pattern across the batch, not only at the chicks you have in front of you.

Keep your reaction proportionate. A box that is mostly B is worth a careful eye and a clear record. It is not a reason to panic, to medicate without advice, or to assume the whole flock is lost. Your vet is the right person to call if the B chicks begin to look worse rather than better. Our frequently asked questions cover the most common questions about what happens after arrival.

Grading mistakes that make the grade meaningless

A grade is only as good as the conditions in which it was given. These are the mistakes that turn a careful score into a guess.

• Grading in bright sun in an open yard, where the chicks gape and look worse than they are.
• Grading only the chicks on top, which are the easiest to lift and the least representative of the box.
• Handling each chick so much that it is stressed before you assess it, then grading the stress rather than the chick.
• Changing the criteria halfway through a box, so the first half and the second half are not comparable.
• Grading hours after arrival, once the chicks have been fed and moved about, so you are grading your brooder rather than the box.
• Not writing the numbers down, then trying to remember them when the next order comes round.

The last mistake is the most common. A grade you cannot find in three months is the same as a grade you never made.

A grading sheet you can copy

Keep one sheet for each hatchery, with the same columns every time. You can copy the layout below onto paper or into a spreadsheet on your phone.

The guide to inspecting your box on arrival explains what goes on the sheet before any grading starts.

After five or six boxes, the pattern tells you more than any single grade. A hatchery whose boxes come in consistently at A is one you can order from again with confidence. One whose boxes swing from good to poor without explanation is one to question before the next order, and the sheet is the evidence you bring to that conversation.

When to grade, and when to leave the box alone

Grade on arrival, within the first thirty minutes, while the chicks are as the hatchery sent them. After that the picture changes. Chicks that have had water, feed and an hour of warmth will look livelier, and a B may pass for an A. That is useful information about how the chicks respond to brooding, but it is not a grade of the box.

If you want to check the chicks later, call it what it is: a brooding assessment, recorded on your brooding sheet, not a grade. Keeping the two apart stops the grading sheet from drifting into a record of how well you looked after the chicks, which is a different and equally important thing to know.

The first 48 hours guide covers what happens to the chicks once the grading is finished and they are in the brooder.

Leave the box alone once the grading is done. Do not keep reaching in to check the same chicks again and again. Each check is a small stress, and the point of grading was to know what you started with.

Set your own limit for B before the box arrives

This guide does not give a national figure for an acceptable share of B chicks, and we will not invent one. Standards differ between farms, between breeds and between seasons, and a number pulled from nowhere would only give you false confidence.

What you can do is decide your own limit before the box is open. Perhaps you will accept up to one in five B chicks and call the hatchery if the share is higher. Perhaps your limit is lower because you are brooding in a cold harmattan week. Whatever you choose, write it at the top of the sheet. When you are ready to order, the order form is on the home page, and the Sasso page is a good place to start if you are weighing a free-range line against a broiler. A farmer who has decided the limit in advance will act on it. A farmer who decides on the day usually ends up arguing with the box.

Checklist for a grading round

Use this list each time you grade a box. It takes about fifteen minutes for a sample of ten, and about forty for a full box of 50.

1. Write the box number, date and hatchery at the top of the sheet.
2. Decide whether you are grading the full box or a sample of ten, and write that down.
3. Set your own limit for B chicks before you open the box.
4. Grade in a shaded, closed-off space, not in direct sun.
5. Take the sample from the corners and the middle, not only from the top.
6. Check the navel and vent on every chick you grade.
7. Record each chick as A, B or reject on the sheet as you go.
8. Count the rejects that have died as arrival losses, and photograph them.
9. Compare the result with your limit and note what you will do in the brooder.
10. Send the sheet and the photos to the hatchery the same day if the box is outside your limit.

Before the next order, read how to choose a trustworthy hatchery, so your grading sheet and your questions about the hatchery are working from the same list.

Keep the batch record with the sheet, so the grades, the vaccination record and the brooding notes are in one place when you need them.

Questions farmers ask