Bob Blosl's Heritage Large Fowl Thread

[NYREDS]

The rule I always use in winter is if the egg is not cracked, it goes in the incubator. Otherwise I'd never get anything hatched when I want to

Among the many "facts" that get repeated so often that they become truth for many people is that eggs that fall below 55 degrees won't hatch. This hasn't been my experience. I too hatch a lot of cold eggs in the winter.

 

[Bentley]

As an addition and clarification to what I just posted, if you are not adding the eggs to an incubator that already contains eggs then there is no benefit to pre-warming hatching eggs.

In a small nutshell regarding storing hatching eggs prior to incubation, try to maintain a constant temperature as much as possible. The developing embryo is already growing when the egg is laid so it never stops embryo growth, growth just slows during storage. Every time the temperature OF THE EMBRYO increases then decreases the embryo has to speed up and slow down development, this adds stress to the embryo which can cause an increase in embryo mortality during days 1-3 of incubation.

 

[Bentley]

Among the many "facts" that get repeated so often that they become truth for many people is that eggs that fall below 55 degrees won't hatch. This hasn't been my experience. I too hatch a lot of cold eggs in the winter.

Excessive chilling of hatching eggs is certainly detrimental but I haven't seen an 'exact' temperature that all embryos will die (of course if they were frozen solid that is different).

But you are exactly right, eggs can hatch when chilled like you mentioned. As was once told me when discussing hatchery performance and hatching egg quality, "if you don't stick it in the incubator it has ZERO chance of hatching". So, if you have room, stick the eggs in the incubator and hope for the best!!

 

[Arielle]

There is a site that has nearly every aspect of the buckeye broken down into features according to the SoP. We are continually updating the site to incorporate more information regarding the breed features. I encourage all to visit.

DO you have a link for us non-tech savy folks?

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

That's what I do Bentley. Just pop that puppy in if it's not broken. I have eggs in the incubator already, so I wait until they come to room temperature, but other than that, why not try it?

Thanks to some heat lamps in my barn keeping the youngsters alive, I have a surplus of eggs right now. Ah well, 'tis the season of baking!

 

[catdaddyfro]

Pre-warming hatching eggs does not need to be fast at all. As a matter of fact, the main reason you would pre-warm eggs is if they are going into an incubator that already contains other eggs. Again, you are just trying to prevent the OTHER eggs from damage or stress due to the possible cooling of the incubator when the new eggs that are cool are added. So, there really is not a benefit to the eggs being pre-warmed themselves. Think of the actual embryo, all it knows is that it's temperature is gradually increasing which increases cellular growth and development. There is an incubation time period of 21 days or 504 hours (this can vary several hours for different breeds or strains) so pre-warming counts as development. If some eggs pre-warm longer than others they may hatch at slightly different times. So, How pre-warming happens is not important as long as the pre-warming occurs for all eggs to be set uniformly.

The embryo starts to develop in the reproductive tract of the female while at a certain temperature, when the egg is laid and cools below this temp. incubation/development ceases/stops until the egg is warmed back to incubation temperature. This is a has to be for a hen to clutch a setting of eggs together which can take as long as 2 weeks for some to ever get the notion to set. Then once the hen goes on the nest and all the eggs come up to the same temperature all of the eggs that are viable and healthy(that are to hatch) will hatch uniformly at the same time usually with in 12-24 hours. anything beyond this is man meddeling with nature as I see it and outcomes will be unknown. Some for the better, some not so good.

All this pre-warming, settling, standing them on end and keeping them on end till hatch, not turning them after day 18/lock-down all this are just extras(broodies don't practice any of these that I've seen other than staying on the nest after a certain time which is when I believe she hears and feels the chicks getting ready to pip and hatch and they constantly are moving and jostling those eggs around with every move they make at every hour till the hatch is completed) and not need-to-dos but everybody has their ways and always will, LOL. I watch nature at work and learn from it and have pretty good results, myself.

 

[Bentley]

The embryo starts to develop in the reproductive tract of the female while at a certain temperature, when the egg is laid and cools below this temp. incubation/development ceases/stops until the egg is warmed back to incubation temperature. This is a has to be for a hen to clutch a setting of eggs together which can take as long as 2 weeks for some to ever get the notion to set.

You are correct, fertilization occurs a few minutes after ovulation then continues to develop until the egg is laid due to the body temperature of the hen. But I do want to make a point, that is a very important point. Embryo development does NOT STOP after the egg is laid nor at anytime during storage unless it dies. This is a living growing embryo and cellular development does not stop, it slows considerably. This is very important to remember when storing hatching eggs, it is STILL a living growing embryo that cooling just dramatically slows development not just an egg waiting to restart development. This is why temperature fluctuations during storage can be so damaging to embryo livability because the embryo will speed up and slow down development in accordance with changes in temperature and each speed up slow down adds stress to the 'suspended' embryo.

Not trying to pick a fight at all, but I feel this is a very critical thing to understand when storing hatching eggs, it is living and still growing.

 

[Chris09]

The Warming Period is the time that a egg is brought from 55° (ideal storage temperature for hatching eggs) to room temperature.
When you allow cool eggs to warm slowly to room temperature before placing in the incubator it will reduce moisture condensation on the egg shell that leads to disease and reduced hatches.

Chris

 

[Bentley]

The Warming Period is the time that a egg is brought from 55° (ideal storage temperature for hatching eggs) to room temperature. 
When you allow cool eggs to warm slowly to room temperature before placing in the incubator it will reduce moisture condensation on the egg shell that leads to disease and reduced hatches.

Chris

You are correct about the concerns of condensation. When an egg goes from cool to warm and humid condensation can happen rapidly and this can give any pathogens on the shell a medium in which to grow. However, from my experience per-warming eggs will not eliminate this.

Also, in my experience and research in storing hatching eggs 55 degrees is way too cold unless you have to store eggs for periods longer than 2 weeks and even then the best results aren't found at that cool of a temperature. For short term storage a constant 70 degrees is optimum. So as not to tick off people that this incubation and egg storage topic is off topic for this thread, PM me if you are interested and I can give you some very specific information from research AND personal experience. There are many many scientific publications in this area that would bore most people here.

But, in that puny nut shell, dramatic changes in the temperature at which embryos are exposed is very detrimental to embryo livability and a CONSTANT (or as close as possible) temperature of 70 has been shown to achieve the objectives of egg storage without adding too much stress to the embryo which can result in embryo mortality during days 1-3 of incubation.

 

[vebyrd36]

As an addition and clarification to what I just posted, if you are not adding the eggs to an incubator that already contains eggs then there is no benefit to pre-warming hatching eggs.
In a small nutshell regarding storing hatching eggs prior to incubation, try to maintain a constant temperature as much as possible. The developing embryo is already growing when the egg is laid so it never stops embryo growth, growth just slows during storage. Every time the temperature OF THE EMBRYO increases then decreases the embryo has to speed up and slow down development, this adds stress to the embryo which can cause an increase in embryo mortality during days 1-3 of incubation.

I'll collect for a week and place them ontop of the incubator and tilt them slightly daily until I have a weeks worth. Then I'll place them in the sportsman until day 19 then take them down to hatch, My hatch rqte is 98% unless something goes South.

VIVI