Day 090 - 16 Feb 95 - Page 14
1 Q. You mean May of last year then?
2 A. I am sorry, May, yes, of last year.
3
4 Q. It is an easy slip to make at this time of year, but you do
5 mean May 1994?
6 A. That is correct, yes.
7
8 MS. STEEL: What has improved in the hatchability standard?
9 A. The improvement is quite small, about one per cent, but
10 that is an improvement.
11
12 Q. So that is just the number that are hatched; is that right?
13 A. That is correct.
14
15 Q. Has there been any change at all in the length of time it
16 takes to hatch the chicks?
17 A. No, there has not.
18
19 Q. The chamber that is used to gas the chicks, the unwanted
20 chicks, you said it is a 50 gallon drum, is that about the
21 size of a normal dustbin?
22 A. Yes, it is the size, say, of a water tub.
23
24 Q. A water butt?
25 A. A water butt, yes.
26
27 Q. How many chicks would be put in each time?
28 A. The number of chicks that would go in at a time would
29 be about 100.
30
31 Q. So how full does the container get? Is it half full or
32 something like that?
33 A. No, it is nothing like half full. The important thing
34 is to do the chicks in small batches so that you are
35 correctly exposing them to the gas rather than to allow
36 them to suffocate in amongst each other. So, if you do
37 them in batches of 100, then this will ensure they all get
38 correct exposure to the gas.
39
40 Q. Do you have more than one of these ---
41 A. No, we do not.
42
43 Q. -- drums? There is just the one?
44 A. Yes.
45
46 Q. Because you said yesterday it takes no more than a minute
47 to check through 200 chicks?
48 A. That is correct.
49
50 Q. So sometimes it is 200 chicks done at once?
51 A. We tend to do them in batches of 100. That would be
52 the normal procedure.
53
54 Q. But sometimes they are done in batches of 200?
55 A. No, I did not say that.
56
57 Q. How long does it take for this process to be carried out?
58 A. It is very, very quick. The gasing itself takes 30 to
59 45 seconds, I would guess.
60
