Incubation Process of a Chicken

1. Incubation Process of a Chicken By: Erin Webb

2. Preparation Stage • Chick incubation process is 21 days • Gather fertilized eggs 2 – 3 days in advance • Set up incubator to maintain temperature of 99.5°F • Add water for humidifying purposes • Mark eggs

3. From Egg to Chick:Incubation Procedures 1. Obtaining and caring of eggs • Gather fertilized eggs from a farmer • Eggs should be stored at a temperature of around 50°F until incubation begins • Eggs should not be more than 5-7 days old

4. 2. Preparing the incubator • Incubator should be out of direct sunlight in a room temperature of 70-75°F • Maintain incubator temperature of 99-103°F • For humidifying purposes, add water to bottom of incubator

5. 3. Preparing the eggs for incubation • To ensure proper turning, mark all eggs on one side with an “x”, the other side with an “o”

6. Demonstrating the marking process

7. During incubation... • Turn eggs 2-3 times per day to prevent embryo from sticking to the shell membrane; until the 17th day

8. Candling the eggs: Allows you to see clearly the developing embryo stages and dispose of the infertile eggs and/or dead embryos

9. Examples of Bad Eggs

10. Examples of Good Eggs

11. Disposing of non-developing eggs

12. Embryonic Development Stages

13. Final Stages of Incubation After the 17th day... • Eggs should not be turned • Incubator should not be opened unless it is necessary to add water • All chicks which are going to hatch should be out of their shells by the 21st day

14. Reasons for Poor Hatches • Infertile eggs • Eggs too old when set • Parent stock weak, unhealthy, or fed a nutritionally deficient diet • Improper care of eggs prior to incubation • Shell contamination • Eggs not turned often enough • Temperatures too high, too low, or too variable during incubation • Too little humidity in the incubator or occasionally too much • Improper ventilation • Oxygen starvation

15. From start…

16. "Chirp Chirp"

18. …to finish!

19. My Hatching Results