Lesson No. 5 Tiny, Dirty, Deformed Eggs Should Not Be Incubated

Natural hen-hatching is still the best way of turning your eggs into healthy chicks.

The problem, however, is if you are intending to produce free-range chicken commercially, hen-hatching is not the ideal system since they do not brood at the same time thus you will have staggered hatching and you could not program the immunization.

Science has offered us a modern way of hatching eggs and this is through the use of electric incubators.

Locally made incubators are already available and they perform fairly well but the more modern hatcheries use expensive incubators which perform better than the hens.

The hatching rate is very high and this is mainly because there is a process observed before the eggs are loaded into the incubators.

First, the egg must be clean. Dirty eggs, especially those with chicken poop sticking on the shells could affect the hatching rate of the other eggs.

Second, only well-shaped and oviate eggs should be hatched. Peewees, super-large and eggs with hairline cracks must be discarded and cooked for breakfast.

Third, do not mark your eggs with pentel pens as the eggs have pores which could absorb the chemicals used in the ink. Pencil would be the best in marking the eggs.

Fourth, constantly monitor the incubator to make sure that the temperature is just a notch below 38 degrees and the humidity at 60 to 62. Make sure that the water tub is always filled with clean water.

Fifth, when the eggs are transferred to the hatchery on the 18th day, make sure that you don’t open it until the 22nd or 23 day when you are ready to take out the hatched chicks.

Before moving the chicks to the brooders, make sure that the weak and those with deformities are eliminated.

These tips will save you time, effort and money.

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