The Egg-topsy

This topic is really 2 parts.  The first is about conducting egg exams after incubation (Egg-topsy) and the second is about a particular incubator. I mainly run quail so this is geared towards them, but will be applicable to some degree to other poultry.  There are several metric crap-loads of videos about incubating so this skips over egg selection and care.

Part1:  The Egg-topsy

        I candle chicken eggs on day 7 and remove any eggs not developing. Because of the coloration of quail eggs this is not possible so they stay the whole time.  If you want to figure out what may be going on with your hatches here is what I do.

      I usually let any unhatched eggs set in the hatcher at least 1 extra day after the last chick has hatched and occasionally get an extra chick or 2. After all is done I take the remaining eggs and put them in an old rice cooker and boil them.  Then I take a pair of kitchen shears and cut the eggs open across .  Here are some of the observations you may make during the hatch and your examination.

1.  Your hatch is a little early.  The cause here is that your incubator is probably running a little warm.  If your hatch is a little late then you are running too cool.  Always use more than one thermometer.

2. Your hatch is spread out over time.  I have this with eggs from my large incubator and suspect it is because there are warm and cool spots due to the circulation.  I might be able to reduce this effect by rotating eggs through different areas of the incubator, but it isn’t serious enough to reduce the hatch.

3. If I have more than 10% that don’t develop, I figure there is a problem.  But that hasn’t happened in a long time.  I run about 93% fertility on my quail at a 4:1 hen to rooster ratio and have run 100% on my chicken eggs during my last 3 checks.  Just because an egg doesn’t develop doesn’t mean it wasn’t fertile.  An egg that gets shaken, is too old, or subject to high/low temps may not develop and appear infertile.

4. If I have a total hatch on quail less than 80% there is a big problem.  Looking at the undeveloped chicks, one thing I have found is a very fully developed chick that did not pip (and occasionally pipped).  I have found this to usually be due to high humidity (a common problem during the rainy season).  There has to be a certain amount of evaporation during incubation so the chick has the room to move.  I highly recommend getting a thermometer that shows the relative humidity.

5. A chick that started to develop on one side and then died.  This I figure is when an egg has laid up against the wall of a poorly insulated incubator. (I cover this in part 2)

6. Many chicks developed to the same degree that have died.  Probably a catastrophic temp extreme.  If some do continue to develop, it can also cause lots of problems during the hatch and brooding period.  If you are aware of extreme temps the best thing to do is to cull the entire hatch.  I had a batch like this and they had health problems and were poor layers their whole lives.  Try to get a thermometer that has a high/low memory. 

7. Many fully developed chicks that pipped, but didn’t completely hatch out.  This may be caused by the humidity dropping after they start to pip.  What can happen is that they get dry and stick to the inside of the shell and can’t move enough to hatch.  I run a very wet hatcher (75%) and try not to open to remove chicks very often and to not keep the hatcher open long.

8. Not a problem but I try to drop the humidity as low as possible for 12-24 hours before moving the eggs to the hatcher.  As I understand it, it makes the shell more brittle and easier for the chick to break.

There are a lot of other causes for problems……illness….in-breeding…lethal gene…, but these are some of the easiest to address in my experience.

I am waiting on photos for part 2.