Mary Allen
The shape, shell, and contents of a hatching egg are by no means the measure of all things. Proper storage before incubation is also important, as is the inherited genes.
When a chicken lays an egg, it doesn’t have to stay warm for a chick to hatch. The incubation process only begins when the egg enters the incubator. But from this point on, there should be no more interruptions and temperature fluctuations. But until then, there are still many steps to be taken. Not every egg is suitable for incubation. If there was no “Guggel” among the hens, the eggs are not fertilized and there will never be any chicks.
In order for chickens to know where to lay their eggs, there must be enough laying nests available. If so-called drop nests are used, which close after entry so that it can be recognized which egg came from which chicken, then these need to be checked regularly. In the morning hours, the laying nests should be checked every hour so that the chickens can quickly return to the feeding trough.
Laying nests should be positioned in a darker place in the barn. By nature, a hen always lays its eggs with eggs that have already been laid. Plaster eggs can be used to fake a clutch for the hens to lure them into the nest. If the hens find their way there, the eggs stay clean.
Don’t Wash Eggs
The marking of the eggs, for proof of parentage, is preferably done with a pencil. It is best to label the hatching egg with the ring number of the hen or the number of the breeding station on the blunt side. A felt-tip pen is not recommended, as it could penetrate the inside of the egg.
In the chicken coop, care must be taken to keep the eggs clean. Hatching eggs should not be cleaned because the hens cover them with a fine, protective layer of oil shortly before laying. This layer is washed away by water, which means that the moisture inside evaporates more quickly. In addition, when eggs are cleaned, the adhering droppings are usually smeared with bacteria and the pores are clogged, which in turn makes the exchange of air and moisture more difficult during the incubation process and thus reduces the results.
Eggs should be collected daily and stored in a cool place. If you buy eggs that have been transported for a long time, they should rest for at least 24 hours before laying them. When shipping, the packaging is the be-all and end-all. Simply packing in egg boxes is often not enough: every corner is best stuffed with sawdust. In this way, the eggs survive shipping without damage. Even before storage, the eggs should be checked for their external properties so that the less attractive ones can be processed directly in your own kitchen.
Turn Once a Day
Hatching eggs should not be stored for more than ten days. The longer the storage, the longer the incubation period, and the lower the incubation success. The eggs are best stored in a cellar at a temperature of eight to ten degrees Celsius. The sun should not shine directly into the room and certainly not onto the eggs, as this will heat them up. The relative humidity is ideally around 70 percent.
The eggs should be turned once a day. In the egg boxes, the hatching eggs are best placed on their tip. A wooden slat two centimeters thick should be placed under the box so that the eggs lie at an angle. Now it’s time to push the bar to the other side every day. In this way, you can “turn” many eggs within a short period of time.
Each hen lays eggs of a different shape. Specimens that are too pointed, too long, or otherwise clearly misshapen should not be used as hatching eggs. The chicks growing inside later have problems hatching from the egg. Often such eggs come from the same hen. Eggs with cracks, thin or porous shells, or lime deposits are also not suitable for hatching. The greater loss of water caused by this would have negative effects on the incubation process. An oversized egg is also not suitable for incubation because it usually contains two yolks. So if you find eggs with the above properties, you should better use them in the kitchen.
If you want to check the shell quality even more precisely, you first have to determine the specific weight according to Walter Kupsch’s reference book “The artificial brood”. This should be between 1075 and 1080. For this purpose, a calcium chloride solution is prepared and precisely adjusted to the specific weight. The eggs that swim in it are too light, have too much air inside, and should not be used for incubation. Eggs that sink in the solution are heavy enough and belong in the incubator. A much simpler measurement method is to check the breed-specific ideal weight of the hatching eggs. Like the shell color, this is noted in the official poultry standard.
The relationship between egg yolk and albumen, says Stromberg, also provides information about breeding success. Breeding success is greatest with an average distribution of two parts protein to two parts yolk. If the ratio deviates, this has a negative influence.