Closing Date: 10 June 2025
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Hatchery Incubation Foreman  Rustenburg
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Role Purpose:

Ensure setters and hatchers are calibrated to 100%, in order to produce first grade quality chicks,

Required Qualifications:

  • Matric/ Grade 12
  • Diploma in Agricultural will be an advantage
  • Code 10 drivers’ licence

Required Experience:

  • Interpersonal skills
  • Five years hatchery experience
  • Knowledge of the incubation process
  • Knowledge on technical based on Maintenance, problem solving, hatchery

Key Responsibilities

Receiving and Grading:

  • Receiving of eggs from laying farms or external
  • Ensure that 100% clean eggs are received from Laying Sites
  • Verification that correct total amount of eggs received from Laying Sites
  • Verify eggs received and despatched
  • Recording of egg core temperatures
  • Co-ordinating and management of the egg bank
  • Use torch to check for hairline cracks on eggs
  • Physical verification of stock daily
  • Accurate labelling of eggs when receiving

Egg/Cold room:

  • Egg stock management/retention
  • Daily reconciliation of stock
  • Monitoring of temperatures in egg/cold room
  • Daily egg core temperature checks and verification
  • Maintain daily housekeeping
  • Ensure cold room are kept clean
  • Weekly washing and disinfection of egg room
  • Hygiene monitoring - swabs to be taken as per Sampling Schedule
  • Turning of eggs in cold room
  • Preparation of eggs to be set
  • Setting and weighing of eggs for incubators
  • Use of UV light to check quality (clean/dirty) eggs
  • Control and management of egg age
  • Rejecting, discarding and sales of old eggs
  • Use of Moba grater to determine egg grams on young flock
  • Physical egg stock count weekly

Setter Incubators:

  • Monitoring of environmental conditions and pressures including hygiene
  • Planning and monitoring of setting of eggs in the incubators
  • Planning and monitoring of transfers into the hatchers
  • Monitoring of embryo temperatures
  • Record and monitor water loss.
  • Monitor and record accuracy of incubators
  • Fogging of setter incubators
  • Monitoring and recording of temperatures and humidity in Incubators
  • 18 day weighing of eggs
  • 10 Day Candling of eggs to check for fertility
  • Transferring of eggs to the hatchers
  • Check shell/embryo temperatures with Braun Scan
  • Calibration of setter’s incubators for optimize operation
  • Ensure calibration equipment are send for annual calibration
  • Do spides (short period of incubation) as per procedure for old eggs

Hatcher Incubators:

  • Ensure baskets are dry during transfer off eggs into the hatchers
  • Ensuring fumigation is done as per schedule and procedure
  • Monitoring and recording of temperatures and humidity in Hatchers
  • Ensure Hatch window are done as per procedure
  • Taken samples on a weekly base as per sampling schedule in the
  • Hatchers
  • Calibration of Hatchers are correct
  • Chick Take Off/Chick holding room:
  • Chick quality (chick assessment, vent temperatures, chick hatch weight)
  • Hatch Report (chick movement and hatchability)
  • See to the smooth operation of this department
  • Check correct eggs being transferred into hatchers.
  • Supervise chick take off
  • Dispatch chicks to farms as per customer arrangement and requirement
  • Be familiar with the RPM and employment procedures as applicable to his section
  • Accountable for the training and development of his labour, maintenance of standards and discipline
  • Accountable for the security of products, materials and assets in his section
  • Accountable for the immediate remedial action and reporting of variance from standard
  • He has an obligation to be on call in the cases of emergency in addition to his normal schedule and must leave contactable telephone numbers when off site
  • Management of the house keeping areas as specified by the manager
  • Verification of eggs when transferring and recording of egg breakages to records.
  • He must ensure that correct eggs are transferred
  • Egg breakouts to be conducted on Hatch day or following day to determine poor hatches.
  • Eggs will be sent to the laboratory on poor hatches for analyses regards to disease status, plus results reported to Hatchery manager
  • Spot check counts in boxes daily
  • Ensure that labourers are thorough in the removal of cracks at transfer via manual or Embrex machine
  • Check hatchers are operating correctly before and after transfer
  • Monitor chick quality during take-off and bring to the attention of the foreman incubation or Hatchery manager any variances in quality and quantity immediately.
  • Eggs must be collected for breakout, 3 egg trays of 132 egg trays
  • Maintenance of vaccine ordering, preparation, application and usage control
  • Liaison with Production clerk and Agric planner regarding chick dispatch
  • Maintenance of plant and equipment in his section
  • Timely daily reporting of complement and recording in attendance register
  • Ensuring accurate documentation in his section

General:

  • Incubators to be checked and calibrated, to obtain maximum hatchability to meet our breed standards
  • Be familiar with all aspects of incubation, plant-, equipment- and hatchery management so that he is competent to manage the hatchery in the absence of the manager
  • Assist the manager in project training, training of staff and labour and maintenance and improvement of operating standards
  • He/She will be required to supervise a section whilst a foreman is on leave, sick or normal day off, including night duties and public holidays
  • He/she will be familiar with all aspects of managing the hatchery
  • He/she will be familiar with RPM and employment procedures
  • He/she is obligated to report to the hatchery in the event of a power failure regardless of normal work schedule, 
  • He/she is also obligated to be on call in the event of an emergency. 
  • He/she must leave contactable telephone numbers when off site

Management of the following:

  • Sick reports, leave rosters, non-salaried register, WCA claims and accident register, induction and SQ (housing) register
  • Loose asset register
  • Key cabinet and key control
  • Diesel stock
  • Month end stock take return
  • Water meter reading
  • Stationery
  • Buying and stores requisitions and stock levels in store
  • First Aid Box and replenishment
  • Protective clothing and stock sheets
  • Physically check first and second grade eggs stock twice per week
  • Hygiene procedures
  • Security procedures

Weekly duties:

  • Test run the stand-by generator once per week
  • Setter test
  • Egg candling and breakout
  • Buying and stores requisitions
  • Compile and following up on outstanding work requests
  • Update key register
  • Calibration of hatchers
  • Visual stat check of setters
  • Completion on salary and wages attendance registers
  • Loose asset checks
  • Protective clothing check and control

 

 

 


 

Closing Date: 10 June 2025