Poultry Advisory Services (PAS) Advisory Services
Hatchery
A place where fertile eggs are brought, processed and day-old chicks are produced
Benefits of hatchery
- Healthy chicks
- More number of chicks at a same time
- Improved hatchability
Incubation
- Incubation refers to the process by which birds hatch their eggs, and to the development of the embryo within the egg
- The most vital factor of incubation is the constant temperature required for its development over a specific period
- The average incubation period for chickens is 21 days
Types of incubation
There are two types of incubation:
- Natural incubation: Incubation under a broody hen is the ideal way to hatch a small number of eggs. A hen can successfully hatch 12-15 eggs depending on her size
- Artificial incubation: Use of a machine which warms, turns, humidifies bird eggs to incubate and eventually hatch them
Requirement of incubation (in case of chicken)
- Temperature (37.5℃ in setter, 36.5℃ in hatcher)
- Humidity (RH = 55% in setter, 65 % in hatcher)
- Ventilation / air (at embryo level Oxygen should be 21 %; CO2 = 0.2-0.3%)
- Turning (in setter only 6-8 times a day)
Types of incubators
Still air
- It is simple type of box in which no fan is provided, mostly used in villages in domestic level
- In this incubator we maintain temperature by thermostat
- For air we make some small holes
- To maintain humidity, we use water trays in the incubator
- Turning of eggs is done by hands (manually)
Cabinet incubator
- It is large in size also called as force draft in which air is forced by the help of fan, we draft the air which is uniformly distributed
- We provide fan to circulate the air that is distributed equally
- Temperature remains constant on every egg, for the control of temperature we provide heater and thermostat
- For maintenance of humidity water pipes are used; we provide fogging modifier which spray fog type air; hygro meter is used to measure humidity
- It holds up to 1000 to 50000 eggs
Temperature and humidity requirement of different poultry species
Species |
Temperature (°C) |
Relative Humidity (%) |
||
Setter phase |
Hatcher phase |
Setter phase |
Hatcher phase |
|
Chicken |
37.5 |
36.5 |
55 |
65 |
Turkey |
37.5 |
37.0 |
55 |
75 |
Geese |
37.7 |
37.5 |
50-55 |
75 |
Duck |
37.5 |
37.2 |
55 |
65 |
Guinea fowl |
37.5 |
36.5 |
65 |
80 |
Japanese quail |
37.5 |
37.1 |
60 |
70 |
Partridge |
37.5 |
37.1 |
60 |
70 |
Pheasant |
37.5 |
37.1 |
65 |
90 |
Ostrich |
36.1-36.7 |
36.0-36.7 |
20-40 |
60-70 |
Embryonic mortality patterns with possible reasons
Stage |
Days |
Normal mortality rate (%) |
Reason |
Period-I |
Before egg laying |
0.6 |
1. Respiratory disease, large period in oviduct 2. Thick shell eggs 3. Too large eggs |
Period-II |
1-7 |
2.0 |
1. Poor egg storage conditions 2. Inappropriate egg fumigation 3. Non adjustment of food utilization by embryo from simple carbohydrate to complex protein & fat at 4th day of incubation |
Period-III |
8-18 |
0.6 |
1. Nutritional deficiency in breeder diet (Vitamin A, B2 & Se) |
Period-IV |
19-21 |
3.0 |
1. Inappropriate conditions in hatcher 2. Embryonic mal-positions |