The Egg-ucated Chicken — hatchability
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.
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!!