A huge fire at a North Island chicken farm on Saturday afternoon gutted the site and incinerated up to half a million eggs which were just about to hatch.

The fire at Tuakau’s Bromley Park Hatcheries  destroyed the hatchery and drew fire services from as far afield as Auckland and Te Kauwhata.

Stuart Weston, Chief Executive of Bromley Park Hatcheries said no 'live' chicks were killed.

Mr Weston said the company would be increasing production at its other sites to compensate for the loss and that there would be no disruption to the meat or egg market.

“The impact to not only our customers but our staff will be negligible. Currently the affected staff at the Tuakau hatchery are being put on holidays or are being redeployed to our other operations, either our farming operations or our Waitakere hatchery.

“At the moment we do not anticipate any major impacts to staff, customers or the local regional community.”

The cause of the fire is not known. 

“The cause of the fire is subject to an investigation but at this stage we do not anticipate foul play.”