Friday, 21 October 2022

INTRODUCTION TO EGG INCUBATION.


 


What is an egg incubator?
An egg incubator is a machine that creates the perfect conditions for an egg to incubate and hatch successfully. An egg incubator is designed to regulate incubation temperature and humidity at perfect levels. It recreates the role that the broody hen plays in nature. 

Why use an incubator to hatch eggs?
Incubators can hatch more eggs at a time and is a lot more reliable than the hen. If you let the hen hatch eggs then she will stop laying eggs for the time that she sits on the eggs and rear her offspring. This means that you are loosing many potential chicks that you could've hatched in the incubator. If you continue removing eggs from the hens nest then she will continue laying eggs that you can hatch in the incubator. A hen can hatch about 20 to 30 chicks per year. If you use the same hen to rather lay eggs and hatch in our incubator, you can get up to 300 chicks per year from the same hen! That's a 1000% increase in efficiency!  
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​What does an egg incubator do?
An egg incubator creates a stable environment in which eggs can be hatched. When incubating eggs under a broody hen there are external threats such as wild animals that may harm the hen or the eggs. By placing the eggs in an egg incubator you are more guaranteed that the conditions will remain consistent over the 21 day incubation period (For chicken eggs). A Surehatch egg incubator basically takes the guesswork out of incubation and increases the chances that you will get a good hatch rate.

What is a setter incubator?
For the first 18 days of the eggs incubation period eggs must be placed in the setter (This is for chicken eggs, other egg types have other setting periods). Eggs are turned by the incubator every hour in the setter. After the setting period eggs are physically moved to the hatcher, where they will hatch on day 21/22. 

What is a hatcher?
The hatcher is the part of the incubator where the eggs lay still for the last 3 days the incubation cycle (In the case of chickens eggs). Generally the humidity and airflow is slightly higher at this part of the incubator due to the fact that eggs require a higher humidity towards the hatching phase. The hatcher creates a stable environment for the eggs to hatch in. No turning of the eggs happens during this phase. The chick inside the eggs aligns itself so that it can peck its way out of the shell.

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