Obtaining Hatching eggs.
Most eggs you get in stores are not
fertile and cannot be hatched. Fertile eggs must be obtained from
hatcheries, poultry farms or people who have chickens for their hobby
having roosters in their flocks.
For disease prevention and health reasons, it’s best to get all the eggs from one source.
Most
producers set as many eggs as their breeders produce. If incubator
space is the limiting factor, it is more profitable to select the better
quality eggs for incubating.
A few tips to follow when selecting hatching eggs are:
- Select eggs from breeders that are well developed, mature and healthy; compatible with their mates and produce a high percentage of fertile eggs; (3) are not disturbed much during the mating season; fed a complete breeder diet;
- Avoid excessively large or small eggs. Large eggs hatch poorly and small eggs produce small chicks.
- Avoid eggs with cracked or thin shells. These eggs have difficulty retaining moisture needed for proper chick development. Penetration of disease organisms increase in cracked eggs.
- Do not incubate eggs that are excessively misshapen.
- Keep only clean eggs for hatching. Do not wash dirty eggs or wipe eggs clean with a damp cloth. This removes the egg's protective coating and exposes it to entry of disease organisms. The washing and rubbing action also serves to force disease organisms through the pores of the shell.
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