Incubation of eggs Types of incubation Principles and requirements of incubation Egg hatching

1. Incubation Process of
Chicken Egg
Presented To :
Dr. Shama Faisal Abbas
Presented By :
Abubakar Mohammed Ahmada

2. Incubation of Eggs
SELECTION:
 selection of eggs is important for good production. All the eggs are not suitable for hatching.
Table eggs are not fertile and cannot be hatched.
 Only those eggs are hatch able which are fertile or which have embryo.

3. Hatching of Eggs

4. Incubation of Eggs
Criteria for selection of eggs:
 Select eggs from breeders that are well developed, mature and healthy.
 Avoid excessively large or small eggs. Large eggs hatch poorly and small eggs produce small chicks.
 Avoid eggs with cracked or thin shells. These eggs have difficulty retaining moisture needed for
proper chick development. Penetration of disease organisms increase in cracked eggs
 Keep only clean eggs for hatching. Do not wash dirty eggs or wipe eggs clean with a damp cloth,
this removes the egg’s protective coating and exposes it to entry of disease organism. The washing
and rubbing action also serves to force disease organisms through the pores of the shell.

5. Incubation of Eggs
STORAGE AND CARE :
 Store eggs in cool-humid storage area. Ideal storage conditions are 55°F or 12°C temperature and
75% relative humidity.
 Store the eggs with the small end pointed downward.
 Hatchability holds reasonably well up to seven days, but declines rapidly afterward. Therefore, do
not store eggs more than 7 days. After 3 weeks of storage, hatchability drops to almost zero.
 Allow cool eggs to warm slowly to room temperature before placing in the incubator. Abrupt
warming from 12°C to 37°C causes moisture condensation on the egg shell that leads to disease
and reduced hatches.

6. Incubation of Eggs
HATCHING.
 The care and management of fertile eggs for a specific time period till the day old chick comes out
of the egg is called Hatching OR Incubation.
 The time period which is required for hatching is called Hatching Period or Incubation Period.
 Hatching / Incubation is of two types.
1. Natural Hatching
2. Artificial Hatching

7. Incubation of Eggs
1. Natural Hatching:
 Its done by parent bird.
 During hatching, the female remains seated on the eggs and provide the hatching temperature to
the eggs.
 A single chicken can hatch approx. 20 to 30 eggs in 21 days.

8. Incubation of Eggs
Care of the Broody Hen:
 Hens like dark and dry places.
 Needs to keep away from other hens.
 Needs good supply of water and food.
 Need an area to stretch her legs and relieve herself.
 Make sure the hen is free from internal and external parasites.

9. Incubation of Eggs
2. Artificial Hatching
 Artificial hatching is done through an Incubator.
Incubator:
Incubator is a device used for maintaining the eggs of bird and allows them to hatch.
 incubator provides the optimum temperature and relative humidity to the eggs.

11. Hatching of Eggs
INCUBATION REQUIREMENTS:
These are the major requirements of incubation:
1. Temperature
2. Humidity
3. Ventilation/ air
4. turning

12. Incubation of Eggs
 TEMPERATURE
 Temperature is the most critical environmental concern during incubation.
 During setter phase temperature required is (37.2 to 38.3°C).
 During Hatcher phase temperature required is (37 to 37.5°C).

13. Incubation of Eggs
 Cont ……
 When incubation temperature deviate from the optimum level, hatchability will decline and the
incidence of the malformed chicks will increase.
 Too high temperature results in excessive late embryonic mortality.
 Lower setter temperature results in slow embryo growth, late and uneven hatching and high
percentage of unhatched eggs.

14. Incubation of Eggs
Temperature requirements of different species.
SPECIES Setter phase (◦C) Hatcher phase(˚C)
Chicken 37.2 – 38.3 37 – 37.5
Turkey 37.5 37.0
Geese 37.7 37.5
Duck 37.5 37.2
Japanese quail 37.5 37.1
Pheasant 37.5 37.1
ostrich 36.1 – 36.7 36.0 – 36.7

15. Incubation of Eggs
2. Humidity
 Humidity is also important because the rate at which eggs lose water by evaporation depends on
the ambient relative humidity.
 The relative humidity of air within incubator should be about 60%.
 During the last 3 days the relative humidity should be near 65 – 70.

16. Incubation of Eggs
 Conc…..
 Too much moisture in incubator prevents normal evaporation and results in a decreased hatch,
chick with a large yolk and a sluggish chick, which is difficult to save.
 Too little moisture results in excessive evaporation, causing chicks to stick to the shell, remain in the
piped shells, and sometimes hatched crippled.

17. Incubation of Eggs
3. Ventilation / Air
 Proper ventilation is important for successive incubation.
 Insufficient ventilation may results in embryo or chick death.
 As the embryo grows it needs a large supply of fresh air.
 The movement of gases through the pores of the shell and the shell membrane is important
because the developing embryo must receive a constant supply of Oxygen and must eliminate
carbon dioxide and moisture.

18. Incubation of Eggs
4. Turning
 The turning process allows the embryo to revolve and slide in the inner white, yolk does not adhere
to the shell membrane and provide access to the additional nutrients for embryonic development.
 if turning does not occur in incubator deforming of the inner membrane started and eventually
the yolk will touch the shell membrane.
 for good hatchability, eggs should be turned to a position at least 45 from vertical, then reserved in
the opposite direction to a similar position.

19. THANK YOU