Hy-Line International recently celebrated the grand opening of the world’s largest layer hatchery by Huayu Agricultural Technology Co., Ltd., named the Huayu International Poultry Incubation Center. The celebration took place in Handan in China’s Hebei Province with 500 participants, including local and provincial government officials.
This hatchery has a production capacity of 60 million female commercial chicks annually.
“The first phase as planned is operating in full capacity and the second phase will be in full operation by the end of the year,” said Antonio Paraguassu, managing director of International Layer Distribution GmbH, which is a sister company helping to manage the joint venture with Huayu.
The investment for the new center was approximately CNY150 million (US$22 million). The planning and project drawings started in September 2016.
“The execution of the project took only approximately 15 months,” Paraguassu said.
The center will have 40 employees. The staff have been going through training for a couple of months. Those at the management level also received training in Europe with Hy-Line and HatchTech supervision.
“Over 30 years of the company’s development, Huayu has always focused on product quality as our core together with introducing cutting-edge technology via innovation supported by a management revolution for the company to develop in a sustainable manner while assisting the overall development of the poultry industry. This new hatchery is exactly the example of this operating philosophy. The facility represents the latest in hatchery equipment and automation. The hatchery layout was planned at the inception for efficiency, improved throughput and biosecurity. This allows Huayu to consistently produce the highest quality day-old chick on the market,” said Lianzeng Wang, chairman of Huayu.
The hatchery equipment, design, construction and biosecurity are world class, according to the company. The facility includes an international training and conference center, which hosted the 2018 International Layer Industry Innovation Summit.
“I congratulate the Huayu team, headed by its president, Mr. Lianzeng Wang, for their vision of the changing demands and even leading the change in the China layer market,” said Jonathan Cade, president of Hy-Line International.
Growth and further expansion
The Hy-Line International U.K. parent stock hub, Hy-Line U.K., completed an expansion of Millennium Hatchery in 2017. The expansion increased the capacity to 3 million parent stock for export and 12 million commercial chicks per year.
The Hy-Line International parent stock hub for Latin America, Hy-Line do Brasil, invested $2 million to expand the grandparent farm capacity, allowing exports to more countries.
Hy-Line International completed a $2.5 million expansion of its Dr. Dennis Casey Research Farm in November 2017, increasing the farm capacity by 50 percent. With this major investment, Hy-Line now extends the evaluation of top-pedigree birds for genetic selections.
Cade said that not only has there been recent expansion but there are plans for further growth. Huayu will inaugurate an additional new hatchery in Chongqing, Fengdu, by the end of the year.
GHEN corporation, a Hy-Line International sister company and distributor in Japan, is conducting a feasibility study on a new parent stock hatchery.
“In 2018, we (Hy-Line International) will fortify our place as the largest supplier of laying hen genetics with a major investment in a new, state-of-the-art research farm," Cade said. "This third research farm will amplify the selection intensity by increasing the pedigree population from which to identify the top performing individuals to keep as breeders of the next generation. Construction is currently underway with an anticipated open date at the end of 2018 or beginning of 2019."