POULTRY

If you buy from a breeder, you can check on their poultry routines and wellfare before purchasing. A healthy flock with the correct nutrition and genetics are more likely to produce healthy chicks. Related problems which can influence the fertility of an egg and the quality of chick would include the age of the breeding stock, genetics and the stress factor induced by, for example, unhealthy sanitary conditions, poor housing and the ratio male to females. Breeding stock with vertically transmitted diseases (for example mycroplasma) and undesirable genes (for example Crossbeaks and bent tails) are to be avoided as it is probable that these genes will show up in a future generation.

For best results, eggs should be stored between 16°C and 18°C with an ambient humidity of 70-80% to prevent water loss. Certain practices store eggs for longer periods at lower temperatures. Fertility can however be reduced. If storing eggs vertically, the pointy end should be down. The air cell is in the round end and is thus at the top. The eggs need to be tilted about 90° several times daily. If storing eggs horizontally, the egg needs to be rotated 180° several times. This avoids the contents of the egg settling on one side or the other. Birds will naturally move their eggs around in the nest. Before the eggs are set in the incubator, they need to come to room temperature. This will avoid a temperature shock between the incubator temperature and the egg temperature. When setting the eggs, make sure that the pointy end is lower than the round end, ensuring that the embryo will develop in the right direction, towards the air cell.

SETTING EGGS
You may like to hatch your eggs out naturally under a setting bird. This could be the natural mother or you may choose a foster mother to preserve the continual egg laying of your breeder group. Whichever the case, it is best, if possible, that the mother has experience of raising chicks. This will avoid her abandoning eggs and/or chicks and providing them the necessary care for their development. First time mothers could decide that the chick is a threat and kill it.
Eggs can be incubated and then transferred to a broody bird up until 48 hours before hatching if the incubator is dependable for heat and humidity levels. The embryo inside the egg communicates with the mother bird towards the end of the development. The mother bird will then recognise the hatching chick as her own.
Good foster birds will also accept other chicks within 48 hours of hatching but this needs to be surveyed to avoid the chick being attacked. A normal sized hen for example, can hatch out 10-12 eggs comfortably. Bantams obviously less.
The eggs and chicks need to be kept at constant temperatures, so her body mass should be big enough to accommodate the eggs and chicks until they reach a sufficient feather growth to be able to regulate their temperature independently.
Chicks hatched out under a bird have a good survival rate as they will naturally develop their immune system under the bird’s care. Chicks and eggs are often introduced at night-time but, under observation, can be introduced during the day. If the bird already has chicks under her care, avoid introducing chicks of a different age as their needs will be different and the bird will more than probably reject the chick, as will the chick the foster bird.