With the onset of spring, many homeowners lay eggs in an incubator to receive young animals and to renew the livestock of chickens, as well as other poultry. To get good results on the hatching, first of all, a number of necessary preparatory measures should be performed. You also need to be able to properly select an egg for the incubator and observe the appropriate temperature and humidity conditions during the development of embryos.
Preparatory Activities
In the spring, the body of poultry lacks all kinds of vitamins and minerals. Therefore, it is important to develop a correct, balanced diet for laying hens. Getting good offspring from a weakened bird will be completely impossible.
You can replenish the body's supply of vitamins by feeding chickens with green cabbage leaves and red carrots. If there is no possibility to make mixers from fresh vegetables, replace them with special additives. The lack of minerals is compensated by sprinkling the feed with chalk, a small amount of salt, feeding eggs to eggs, slaked lime, bone meal , etc.
Visual egg selection
The result of such a procedure as the independent conclusion of young poultry is greatly affected not only by the correct feeding of the parent herd. To get viable, healthy, active chicks, you also need to select the right egg for the incubator. This should be done in compliance with the following recommendations:
- Selected eggs should not be too large or small. In the first case, the probability of death of the embryo is higher. Very small chickens hatch from too small eggs. Subsequently, they grow in small-bearing chickens.
- The eggs must be clean.
- They should not be chipped, rough, etc.
- In addition, they should have a smooth, neat, preferably almost round shape. From eggs slightly flattened on the sides or too sharp, it will be difficult for the chick to get out.
- Broiler eggs for the incubator are taken from hens no older than 1.5-2 years. It is advisable to observe this rule with respect to laying hens.
Ovoscope Selection
When collecting eggs for incubation, it will also be very useful to use this device. When scanned, you should pay attention to the following points:
- The yolk should be in the middle. When turning in a good egg, he quickly takes his former position. If one of the protein flagella is torn off, the yolk remains at the edge during this procedure. Such an egg is not suitable for incubation.
- The air chamber should not be too large (about 2-2.5 cm). Its correct location is at the blunt end, exactly in the middle. Eggs with a displaced camera in the specialized literature are advised to reject. However, there is another opinion. Some experienced poultry farmers believe that usually eggs are removed from eggs with an offset (slightly) camera. Therefore, if the young growth will not be grown for meat, you can experiment.
- Of course, you cannot take eggs for incubation with a yolk torn and mixed with protein.
Collection rules
The eggs intended for incubation are stored at a temperature of about 8-12 degrees for a maximum of five days. With a longer period, the hatchability of young animals is significantly reduced.
An incubator egg is taken from the nests every one and a half to two hours. If left for a longer period, hens will trample on them. As a result, the protective layer of the shell, the cuticle, may be damaged. For the same reason, eggs should be taken from the nest gently, holding with two fingers at the sharp and blunt ends. It is best to store them in a basket horizontally or in paper shelves. In the latter case, the eggs are laid with the sharp end down.
Bookmark
So, the selection of "material" is completed. Next, let's see how to lay eggs in an incubator correctly. Experienced farmers are advised to place them immediately in one large batch. If you bookmark in parts, as they become available, later problems may arise with the creation of conditions for young animals of different ages. In addition, in this case, the incubator will be washed only once - after the withdrawal of the last batch of chicks. This is not too good, because with each hatching, the shell, mucus, etc. remain inside the device.
It is best to bookmark in the evening - at about 16-22 hours. In this case, hatching will end completely on day 22.
Incubator: temperature for chicken eggs
After bookmarking, the following mode must be observed:
- the first two days the temperature inside the incubator should be 38 C;
- from the third to the tenth - 37.8 C;
- from 11 to 16 - 37.5 C;
- from 17 to 19 - 37.2 C;
- from 20 to 21 - 37 C.
The humidity indicator in the incubator should be about 50-60%. During the withdrawal period, it must be increased to 68-72%. Otherwise, it will be difficult for the chicks to leave the eggs. Normal embryo development can only be achieved with a 46-fold air exchange per hour. For this, twice a day, the incubator for chicken eggs is opened and ventilated. This contributes to the full development of embryos.
In manual devices, airing is carried out simultaneously with the turning of the eggs. Performing this procedure, the shell should also be sprayed with a weak solution of potassium permanganate to increase humidity and disinfection. Similar rules should be observed when laying in any incubator. The temperature for chicken eggs indicated above must be observed without fail.
Hatching chickens
In the last two days before hatching the chicks, the eggs are turned over, the humidity is raised, and the temperature is lowered. Chicks hatch if incubation rules have not been violated, depending on breed for 21-21.5 days. Young growth is left inside until the pen is completely dry. Then it is transferred to a nursery with an air temperature of about 38 grams. After incubation of all chickens, the incubator should be shelled. Of course, it must be thoroughly washed.
Goose eggs in an incubator
The procedure for self-withdrawal of the chicks of this poultry is almost identical to that described above. Collect goose eggs for incubation for 5-7 days. Their bookmark is usually made in a horizontal position.
Of course, a special incubator for goose eggs should be used in this case, since they are three times the size of chicken eggs. They should not be arranged too tightly. In this case, good ventilation will be ensured. From the first to the 15th day, the air temperature inside the incubator should be 37.5 g. Starting from day 16, it is reduced to 37, 4 g. Like chicken, goose eggs in the incubator should be ventilated and turned over at least twice a day.
Duck eggs
Artificial breeding of young birds of this bird has some of its features. The duck egg shell has very large pores. In addition, it is often very contaminated. As a result, a penetrating infection sometimes causes the death of the embryo. Therefore, during the incubation period, the condition of the shell should be monitored. If it has darkened and acquired a bluish or greenish tint, the egg should be removed. The germ in him has already died. The temperature for the eggs in the incubator should be 37.7-37.8 ° C in the first 1-8 days. From 9 to 24 it is reduced to 37.4-37.3 ° C.
Useful Tips
You now know how to lay eggs in an incubator, and also what should be the microclimate inside it. Next, we give some tips that may be useful to someone.
In order to measure the temperature on the surface of an egg, you can use a conventional mercury thermometer. This procedure is very simple. The thermometer is positioned so that the mercury tank touches the surface of two eggs just below the air chamber.
Gender of newborn chicks can be determined by the wings. In chickens, feathers are longer than covering feathers. Therefore, short and long skeletons alternate in the drawn wing. In males, they are exactly the same in length. When selecting an egg for an incubator, you should carefully probe its sharp end. It is believed that if it is slightly rough and has a characteristic calcareous “ring” on it, a chicken will most likely hatch from it.
When a large number of chicks are hatched at the farm, they are sorted. At the same time, chickens are divided into several groups:
- conditional young growth (mobile, active);
- substandard (stable on the legs, but have a slightly enlarged stomach);
- weak (sedentary, sitting with eyes closed, do not respond to sound);
- cripples (have physical defects).
The last two groups are recyclable.
In autumn, young animals are very rarely hatched on private farms. However, it might be useful for someone to learn that at this time of the year, it is not bad to irradiate chickens with ultraviolet light. This stimulates the body to produce vitamin D. For irradiation, you can use mercury-quartz lamps PRK 2. They are placed at a distance of about a meter from the brood from above and periodically turn on for 5 minutes.
Goose egg incubators can be used to extend their shelf life. In this case, pre-disinfection is carried out by soaking in a weak solution of potassium permanganate (at t 40 gr.). Thus treated eggs are heated in an incubator for 5-6 minutes. (at t 38 gr). Then they are sealed in a plastic bag and placed in the refrigerator on the lower shelf. Eggs can be stored until laying in this case for up to 30 days.
The independent conclusion of poultry is not as complicated as it might seem at first glance. The main thing is to properly select and store eggs, and also to observe the temperature and humidity conditions during the development of embryos. Flipping eggs in an incubator is also a necessary procedure.