How to HATCH CHICKS in a Homemade Incubator
(Page 4 of 6)
March/April 1975
by Vikki & Ted Purve - Smith
A brooding hen will turn her eggs frequently, and for a good reason: the embryos inside must have exercise to develop properly. If an egg remains in one position for too long, certain tissues will be strained and others underworked with resulting poor development or even. malformation or deformity. Rotating each egg while keeping its large end up-should be done at intervals of no more than eight hours. We do this four times a day, and at the same time check on the essential factors of heat, humidity and ventilation.
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HEAT
A chicken embryo can grow and develop only within a narrow range of temperature: from 99° to 105°. At 40° to 60°, life remains dormant. At 80° to 900 the germ will begin to grow but will soon spoil. Above 110° the embryo dies.
Too much heat will cause the eggs to crack open prematurely. Too little means a late hatch. If the temperature is excessive when the chick emerges, its down will be too dry and will stick to the shell. At that time, also, the young bird will still be attached to the yolk (which is absorbed into its body after it breaks out of the shell and supplies nourishment for the first two days of life). Overheating may damage this essential store of food, or prevent it from passing through the fine ducts into the chick's intestines in which case death will result in a few days. For all these reasons, temperature control is the most vital part of incubation.
Careful supervision of our thermostat-and-light-bulbs system enabled us to keep the temperature of our mini-hatchery within the proper range. Monitoring an incubator, however, is a trickier job than you might think because several factors placement of the thermometer, distribution of heat and amount of ventilation--all affect the measurement of warmth.
Since warm air rises, you can take the temperature of an egg at three points and get three different readings which should average about 100°. That is, if the lower end is at 97°, the upper end should be at 103°. If the bottom measurement is 100°, the top should be too, The figures should remain constant and steady. An excess of heat during one period won't make up for a deficiency at another.
HUMIDITY
The correct level of humidity is especially important early in incubation, when the air cell is being formed by the evaporation of water through the shell. Too much or too little moisture in the surrounding air will cause the space to be too large or too small, and the chick will die during the last three days of growth or while hatching even if all other conditions have been perfectly maintained.
The relative humidity inside the incubator should be 65 or 70 percent. It must be carefully watched because the rate of evaporation from the water pan is affected by many factors altitude, weather conditions, temperature and air circulation and is quite variable. If the level of moisture in the air falls too low at a given time, you may need to provide more humidity by placing damp rags or sponges inside and around the container.
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