The Egg-ucated Chicken — egg care
Increase Hatchability Using Better Hatching Egg Care and Storage Practices
Posted by Allison Rostad on
For breeders with small flocks that wish to hatch large quantities at a time, itās necessary to collect fertilized eggs for over a week before having enough to fill an incubator. In this scenario, the older the eggs are before incubation begins the bigger the decrease of the hatch success rate. To ensure hatchability in eggs collected over a longer period of time it is important to practice good egg storage and care.
Hatchery Hygiene
Posted by Allison Rostad on
The nature of a hatchery provides the perfect atmosphere for bacteria to grow and thrive. With incubators running at 99-100^F and humidity levels varying between 40-80% at any given time, living bacteria can replicate rapidly and double itās population within 20 minutes. Hatching eggs that are exposed to these bacterias have a higher mortality rate than those that arenāt. Maintaining proper cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting practices in the hatchery can significantly decrease the likelihood of hatching eggs being exposed to bacteria and ultimately increase the hatchability of the fertilized eggs.
Washing Hatching Eggs
Posted by Allison Rostad on
High numbers of soiled eggs in the incubator is probably the single biggest cause of poor chick quality and first week mortality. Cross contamination between a heavily soiled egg and one that may be fairly clean can lead to lower fertility rates, early embryonic mortality and a higher percentage of rotten eggs. Removing bacteria and microbial pathogensĀ before they have a chance to multiply and contaminate other eggs during incubation is essential to your incubation process. So wash your eggs!!