Breeding birds in a home incubator. Breeding, hatching chickens in an incubator at home. Storing eggs before incubation
Hello dear editors!
My wife and I are your regular subscribers, we have been reading “Smart Farming” with keen interest for three years now. We look forward to each issue and eagerly draw useful knowledge and experience from other people from this sensible newspaper.
This year we want to buy an incubator to hatch our chickens. We have been keeping chickens for 20 years, we always bought chickens. But in recent times we observe the following picture: the purchased chickens are too painful, very few of them survive. Last year, out of 50 pieces, only 20 remained.
Of course, we know that hatching chickens is a rather difficult process. Therefore, we ask you to tell us in detail about all the intricacies of incubating eggs at home. We will be very grateful to you.
Martiyan Stepanovich Melnichenko, Ivano-Frankivsk region
Newspaper "Smart economy" Dear Martiyan Stepanovich! Thank you for your kind words about our newspaper. We are always happy to answer all your questions. Also on the pages of "Smart Farming" you will find a lot of useful and informative topics regarding innovations in the field of animal husbandry and horticulture, about building a business, etc.
And now we will directly consider the topic that interests you - breeding chickens for the farmstead.
Each owner has a choice: to purchase ready-made young animals, use an incubator or trust nature. Frankly, all three aspects have their pros and cons. Purchased chicks, as Martiyan Stepanovich rightly notes, are not always of high quality, moreover, every year they cost more and more. E with The natural method, when eggs are incubated by a mother hen, can only be practiced today by experienced and professional poultry farmers. But for beginners who are first faced with the business of breeding chickens, the most acceptable method is home incubation.
Growing chickens with the help of an incubator requires, first of all, the desire to do this, as well as patience and diligence. Then a good result is guaranteed: you will get healthy and strong chickens. But there are some subtleties on which the health and life of future chicks depends. That's what we'll talk about.
What is the best incubator?
To incubate eggs, you can make a homemade incubator. But I still better advise you to buy a "factory" incubator - such "machines" are made based on rich experience in breeding chickens, so they will help you avoid mistakes and get chickens with the least losses. Modern incubators are equipped with all necessary functions: have in their presence all sorts of sensors that measure temperature and humidity, and also automatically turn the eggs when necessary. But in order to grow healthy young animals, certain rules must be followed.
Choosing eggs for incubation
For incubation, it is necessary to take eggs only from healthy chickens, for a period of not more than 5 days. Eggs must be clean, fresh, of the correct shape, without visible defects, of the same average size (weighing 50-65 g). Eggs of the same size will allow the young to hatch at about the same time. To do this, it is recommended to use an ovoscope, which allows you to enlighten the egg and see the location of the air chamber, the condition of the yolk, the presence of all kinds of unnecessary inclusions, etc. In addition, it is necessary to carry out full control with an ovoscope three times during the incubation period: on the 6th, 11th and 18th days. This way you can observe the development of the chick and separate unfertilized and other defective eggs.
Little subtleties when incubating eggs:
- Demolished after 6 pm is better not to incubate.
- Chicken and turkey eggs can be stored after laying no more than 5 days; - no more than 8; goose - no more than 10.
- Chicken, turkey, caesar and small duck eggs are stored with a blunt end up. Large duck eggs are stored in a semi-inclined position, and goose eggs are stored only on their sides.
- Eggs with broken and cracked shells are not taken for incubation.
- You can't wash eggs! Weak dirt is best scraped off with a knife.
Cooking an incubator
Each incubator is individual. Therefore, it is impossible to give complete recommendations for its use. All this will come with experience, it is enough to hatch one or two batches of chickens, and you will master all the subtleties of this apparatus.
The incubator should be located in a fairly warm room with a temperature of +15 ... 22 ° C and be prepared for placing eggs. Why is it necessary to Thoroughly wash and disinfect the incubator with bleach solution, rinse and dry. Then adjust the temperature and humidity, check the operation of the flip mechanism and the fan. Turn on an empty incubator two days before laying eggs to check the stability of its work.
incubation chicken eggs start in the evening (around 18:00), and ducks - in the morning.
Eggs are placed in the incubator warm. For this purpose, they must be brought into a room with a temperature of + 25 ° C for 8-10 hours in advance. But in no case is it warmer than + 27 ° C, since at this temperature the embryo develops incorrectly. For humidification, water is poured into the pan heated to + 40-42 ° C.
In nature, all eggs during incubation are in a horizontal position, that is, they lie on their side. In this position, the embryo floats up and approaches the heat source. For incubation in home incubators, this position of the egg is the best. However, chicken, turkey and small duck eggs can be placed vertically in incubators with an automatic flip, with the sharp end down and the blunt end up. Goose and large duck eggs are laid only sideways.
Incubation stages and incubation regimen
There are three incubation periods:
- initial (from the 1st to the 11th day),
- intermediate period (from the 12th day to the beginning of pecking, usually it is the 18th or 19th day)
- the final period (from the 19th day until the final hatching of the chicks, usually on the 20th or 21st day).
In the initial period the air temperature in the incubator should be around +39°C, and the humidity should be around +30°C. From the first day you need to start turning the eggs, the best option is every 2-3 hours. In order not to stray, it is recommended to draw “zeros” on one side of the egg, and “crosses” on the other, and also write everything down in a special notebook or notebook.
In the second period the temperature is lowered to +38.5°C, and the humidity is reduced to +28°C. Airing must be done more often than during the initial period, for this it is necessary to turn off the heating for 10-15 minutes and cool the eggs. But after that, you need to ensure desired temperature within thirty minutes. Why you can use additional heat sources, and when you reach the desired value, remove them.
In the final period we reduce the temperature in the incubator to + 37 ... 38 ° С, and the air humidity, on the contrary, needs to be increased to + 31 ° С. Ventilation ducts must be fully open. During this period, turning and cooling of the eggs stop. After the start of the hatching of the chickens, you need to remove the bath with water. When the chicks are completely dry, they are removed from the incubator. The incubator itself is thoroughly cleaned.
Force majeure during incubation. What to do?
During the incubation period, unpleasant events are also quite likely, as a result of which the chicks may die. One of the force majeure circumstances is sudden power outage. If the temperature in the incubator is below + 35 ° C, then the likelihood of death of chickens increases significantly. To prevent this, it is best to use heating pads. Pour boiling water into them and place them on the incubator. This will help raise the temperature within a few hours. You should also close the ventilation openings to maintain the temperature, but only if this happened before the 12th day from the moment the eggs were laid. If after, then there is no need to close the ventilation - the heat released from the eggs will be enough for them for 2-3 hours.
So, under all conditions of incubation - the right temperature, enough air and moisture, get ready to get almost 100% hatchability of strong, nimble and healthy chickens. After a few hours, such chicks begin to respond well to sounds and stand confidently on their feet. The main thing is to provide small birds with all the necessary conditions in the future: balanced feeding, temperature and light conditions, sanitation, and so on.
Good luck!
Information prepared by Dmitry Gulevsky
Even if you don't have a mother hen, you can hatch eggs using an incubator, a device designed to artificially hatch eggs. The incubator tries to recreate the conditions in which the fertilized egg is located under the bird (corresponding temperature, humidity and air movement patterns around the egg). To be successful in hatching eggs, you need to properly set up your incubator and maintain these settings throughout the incubation period.
Steps
Part 1
Preparing to use the incubator- Cleaning the incubator is especially relevant if you bought it from your hands or the device is very dirty.
- Compliance with sanitary standards at this stage is extremely important, because diseases can pass through the egg shell and infect the chick!
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Place the incubator in a location with little temperature fluctuation. The ideal temperature is 21-23 Celsius. Do not place the incubator near a window or vent; avoid drafty places.
Plug the incubator cord into a reliable outlet. Make sure the incubator's plug is firmly attached to the socket so that children cannot unplug it. It will not be superfluous to check whether the outlet itself is working normally.
Pour warm water into the humidifying tray of the incubator. Check your incubator's instructions for how much water to add.
Set the incubator to the correct temperature. At least a day before placing eggs in the incubator, you should set it to the appropriate temperature and make sure that it holds it correctly and stably.
Wait 24 hours and check the thermometer again. The temperature should still be within the desired range. Do not load the incubator with eggs if temperature fluctuations are out of range - in such conditions, the embryos will not be able to develop properly.
Take fertilized eggs for hatching. For incubation, you need eggs laid 7-10 days ago. Viability decreases as the eggs mature. Eggs from the supermarket will not do - they have not been fertilized, in other words - they are not viable.
Turn the eggs at least three times every day. Turning the eggs and changing their position in the incubator mitigates the effects of temperature differences in the incubator and mimics the behavior of an incubating hen.
- Turn the eggs an odd number of times every day. In this way, the icon on the egg will change every day (after you turn the egg), and it will be easier for you to understand whether you have already turned this egg today or not.
- As you turn the eggs, check for cracks and freshness. Rotten or cracked eggs should be discarded as soon as possible.
- Move the eggs inside the incubator to different places.
- Stop turning the eggs for the last 3 days of the incubation period. At this point, the embryo will turn into a chicken, which will soon hatch, and there will be no need to turn the egg.
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Adjust the humidity level in the incubator. Humidity should be between 45-50% throughout the entire incubation, except for the last 3 days - at this stage you should raise the humidity to 65%. Depending on the type of bird you are hatching, you may need to raise or lower the humidity level. Check with the farmer you are purchasing eggs from or consult the relevant literature on breeding your bird species.
Make sure the incubator has adequate ventilation. The incubator should have openings on the sides and top that allow air to flow; make sure these holes are at least partially open. When the chicks begin to hatch, you will need to increase the air flow. .
Find an incubator where you will hatch your eggs. You will need instructions for the specific type and model of incubator you have chosen. The tips in this article are general in nature.
Clean out the incubator. Gently wipe or vacuum any dust or dirt you see on the surface of the incubator. Then wipe all its surfaces with a clean cloth or sponge soaked in a bleach solution (20 drops per liter). Wear gloves to protect your hands from the chlorine, and don't forget to wring out any excess solution from a cloth or sponge before you start wiping down the incubator. Then wait - the incubator should dry in the air, only then it can be turned on.
Part 3
Candling eggs- If the egg seems transparent, then either the embryo has not yet formed, or the egg, in principle, has not been fertilized.
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Remove from the incubator any eggs in which you have not found signs of a developing embryo. These eggs are dead, you should not expect a chick from them.
Candle the eggs after 7-10 days. To enlighten an egg means to put it against a light source and see how much space the embryo takes up in the egg. After 7-10 days, you should be able to see the embryo. By enlightening the eggs, you can remove the non-viable ones.
Find a tin can or box that fits the lamp. Cut a hole in the jar or box that is smaller than the diameter of the egg.
Turn on the lamp. Take one of the eggs from the incubator and hold it against the hole. If the egg is transparent, then the embryo did not develop, or the egg was not fertilized initially. If an embryo develops in the egg, you should see a cloudy mass. The closer to the hatching date, the larger the embryo will be.
Part 4
hatching eggsGet ready to hatch. Stop turning and transferring eggs in the last 3 days of term. The most viable eggs will hatch within 24 hours of the expected time.
The rearing of chickens is profitable business which does not require a lot of time. Anything is possible if you have the right skills. Most farmers resort to incubation as a great way to raise chicks. From our article you can find out how you can hatch chickens yourself in an incubator. What breeds of chickens can be bred by incubation at home. And how to properly lay eggs in an incubator. But a particularly important task is not only to raise chickens in an incubator, but also to properly keep them up to a week of age so that they get stronger.
Breeding chickens in an incubator at home
At home, it is possible to raise chickens for yourself and for sale. It can be chickens of meat breed or chicks egg breeds. Popular names include: breeds.
- Brama chickens.
- Hens master gray.
- Kuchinsky yellow chicken.
- COBB eggs - 500.
Each of the breeds of chickens performs well during the incubation period. Cultivation takes place according to the standard scheme, which you will learn about a little later.
Breeding chickens in an incubator at home: choosing an incubator
The primary task for a farmer who raises chickens is the choice of an incubator. Such a device replaces a hen for chickens. But in order for the chicks to hatch from eggs, the incubator must meet certain requirements. They are worth attributed:
- Maintaining the required temperature regime and protecting the incubator from temperature drops.
- The incubator must have the proper level of humidity.
- ventilation function.
- Automatic mode support.
- Egg tray flip function.
An automatic egg machine is expensive, but it relieves the farmer of all the complexities of this work. But there are other more economical options for incubators. This is a do-it-yourself incubator or a mechanical incubator.
Hatchery Hatchery: Egg Selection Criteria
In order to grow worthy chickens, you must follow all the rules of the incubation period. But for breeding chickens, you need to select the right eggs. It is necessary to make sure that the egg from which the chick is planned to hatch was laid by a healthy chicken. Therefore, before you put the eggs in the incubator, you should carefully examine them. We offer you a basic list of what you should pay attention to. Attention.
It is strictly forbidden to wash or wipe the surface of the shell before laying the eggs. In addition, there is a special device that helps many farmers to determine the necessary characteristics of the egg. The ovoscope accurately determines the location of the yolk and the air sac. In a good egg, the yolk is located in the middle or closer to the blunt edge. The air bag may be located near the blunt end. In addition, the ovoscope allows you to select only the best eggs and see the pathology in the development of the embryo. Most frequent pathology This:
How to hatch chickens in an incubator: laying eggs
The main thing is temperature eggs when laying it in the incubator. The optimal indicator is a temperature of twenty-five degrees Celsius. It is recommended to keep the eggs in a warm place before laying. In addition, before laying eggs, it is necessary to clean and disinfect the incubator.
The mode of incubation is also checked in advance. It is worth noting that the temperature when laying should be thirty-six degrees. Egg laying should be blunt end up. In the event that you have a mechanical incubator installed, you need to monitor the slope of the tray, its temperature and humidity.
But if you are a happy owner of an automatic model of this device, you do not need to check each of the above parameters. In the event that the tray turns over 180 degrees, then horizontal laying of eggs is possible. The best time to lay eggs is after 6pm. It is recommended to start with a large egg. After four hours, you can lay out medium-sized ones, and after another four hours, the smallest ones. Thus, the offspring can be considered homogeneous.
How to use the incubator: the incubation process
It should be noted that the incubation period is divided into four stages. Removal continues for twenty-one days. The first stage takes place within seven days. The second stage is from the seventh to the eleventh days. The third stage lasts until hatching chicks. The fourth is the birth of chicks. Let's consider each of the stages in turn.
First stage
At the first stage, all the necessary organs are formed in the chick. In the first three days it is necessary to maintain temperature regime up to 38 degrees Celsius. It is especially important to maintain a normal level of humidity, which should be 70%. On the fourth day, the temperature regime drops to thirty-seven and a half degrees, and humidity to 55%.
In the event that you use a mechanical incubator, then it cannot turn the tray over, then it is worth performing the necessary turns up to three times a day. Each time the coup must be carried out at the same time. Turn the tray over carefully. In order not to forget when the previous turn was made, it is best to make a mark on the egg.
Second phase
At the second stage, the skeleton, claws and beak are formed in the chick. In order for the embryo to develop normally, normal temperature of 36–38 degrees with a humidity level of up to 45%. In this case, the turning continues three times a day with the same time intervals.
Third stage
At this stage, the embryo has a fluff and a stratum corneum on the claws. The temperature drops to 37 degrees, humidity keeps at the level of 70% and in some cases can be increased. Most importantly, the third step is ventilation holes. At this stage of development, the embryo should receive a good supply of air.
It is necessary to use an ovoscope at this stage, because then a scheduled check is carried out. Maybe consider the circulatory system. On the twentieth day, the eggs are turned on their side, so that there is a large amount of space.
Fourth stage
At this stage, you can see how the chicks hatch. Chickens break open the air sac, and after the shell. At first, he captures the air, and then utters a squeak. In the cut, the minutes at the chick open eye sockets and they come out of the shell. As soon as the chicks have hatched, they are moved under the hen or in special place- brooder.
Inspection of hatched chicks
After the chick has been born, it should be examined after six hours. If the chicks were raised as a meat breed, then it is recommended to look around after ten hours.
A healthy chick should have the following external signs.
When the gender of the chick is important to the breeder, there are several ways to define his.
- The chick must be taken by the scruff or paws. Cockerels hang, calm, and chickens will tighten their paws and pull their heads up.
- During incubation, only the hens hatch first.
- The chicken has long feathers that alternate with short ones. The rooster is distinguished by the presence of only short feathers.
In livestock complexes to determine the sex of the chick. The chicken cloaca is examined for the presence of a tubercle.
It will be useful for a novice farmer to know how to determine floor future chick by egg.
- The shell is the main way to determine the sex of the future chicken. For this, it is probed, and if a tubercle or a ring was found during palpation, then it means that a rooster will hatch from the egg.
- An ovoscope can also indicate the future sex of the offspring. This can be determined by the position of the air bag. If it is located in the center, then the male representative will hatch.
Incubator hatching is a great way to save time and money. But after the offspring are bred, it is especially important to maintain and care for the chicks before they get stronger, namely in the first week of their life.
If a chicken was born with the help of a perch, then, of course, his mother takes care of him - this is a chicken. But if - this is an artificial way - an incubator, then care falls on the shoulders of the breeder. It is worth noting that the first days the chicks are kept in a box. But it is also important to follow certain rules that will help grow healthy chicks.
There is only one conclusion, raising chickens in an incubator with your own hands is not a simple, troublesome business. It requires a lot of time. The only way out for busy farmers is an automatic incubator that does all the work for you. With such a device, it is possible to achieve the effect in the shortest possible time.
Hen in the role of a mother hen is the most natural, and often the only affordable way to get chickens at home with minimal cost. The hatching of chickens by a mother hen has a lot of advantages and does not require labor-intensive care from a person.
The whole process of hatching chickens is amazingly exciting, and by watching it, you can follow the emergence of a new life and better understand the habits and needs of domestic chickens. For breeders of thoroughbred birds, a hen can be an excellent, not too expensive way to get young and maintain a livestock.
Not every chicken can become a hen - some breeds are more prone to incubation, others less so. good laying hens egg breeds and crosses sit on eggs less often, while representatives of meat-egg and meat breeds make excellent caring chicks.
Usually hens start clucking in spring, and even more often in early summer, so if a breeder wants to get chicks early, consider other ways and possibly use an incubator. Although no one bothers to successfully apply both methods - incubate some of the eggs in early spring, and when hens appear, add eggs under them.
Another way to use a mother hen is to offer her to nurse day old chicks purchased from outside or hatched in an incubator. Such a hen will provide a brood of up to 25 chickens with warmth and care.
How to identify a hen?
Usually, a hen, having laid an egg, does not stay long in the nest - having expressed her emotions with a characteristic cry, she leaves it within 2-3 minutes. But sometimes she begins to stay in the nest, after she has been laid, not leaving the clutch when other hens appear, and in the end, she remains on the eggs for the night. These are sure signs that the chicken is gradually turning into a hen.
The best mother hens- adult birds over two years old, especially those that have already hatched chickens. Breeders report increased brooding and good maternal qualities in Rhode Island, Orpington, Cochin, New Hampshire, Plymouth Rock, Silk, and local older outbreds and benthams.
Orpington hen
There is no exact number of eggs sitting on which a hen might start to wonder if it's time for her to hatch chickens. In some cases, two eggs are enough, but experienced poultry farmers deliberately leave 5-6 eggs in the nest to make instincts speak. It is convenient to use artificial liner eggs made of chalk, alabaster or wood for this purpose.
It is worth leaving the chicken in the nest you like for a few days, and then transfer it to the place intended for it. A well-settled quoit, even if it is removed from the nest, will remain in place, spreading its wings and puffing out its feathers. At the same time, she makes characteristic clucking sounds that are difficult to describe, but once heard, it is already difficult to confuse with the typical dialect of chickens.
This is how a hen communicates with her chicks, which, only after hatching from eggs, are remarkably able to distinguish familiar sounds. At the same time, the intonations of the chicken are different - having found a worm, she calls the chickens with gentle muttering, and informs about the danger in a different way - with a sharp, abrupt cry.
A mother hen can behave aggressively towards other chickens and a rooster, and sometimes peck at a person, but this is rather an exception. If you are not in the mood to plant chickens on eggs, a meddlesome chick can create real problems in the coop, act eccentric, driving fellows from the nests, and incessantly quarrel and bully.
Sometimes this behavior can stop by itself after a couple of days and this period will end without complications. In some cases, it makes sense to separate a particularly violent chicken for several days by placing it in another room or cage, providing only water and food. Such a short-term conclusion will help the chicken to return to duty faster.
What to do if the chicken does not sit on the nest, and the hen is really needed?
In this case, you can try to push the chicken to incubate. To do this, they choose an adult bird, which in the past has already been a brood hen, place a nest in a quiet place, lay laying eggs, seat the chicken in the evening and cover it with a box or basket on top for 2-3 days, feed and water the chicken a couple of times a day. When she begins to show signs of sitting up - puffing up her feathers and clucking, hatching eggs are poured under her.
Collection of hatching eggs
It is important that the eggs that are placed under the hen are clean. To do this, they are collected immediately after demolition and stored for no more than a week at room temperature- this period will not affect hatchability too much. However, over time the quality of the hatching eggs will decline and the percentage of chicks produced will be lower.
It will not be superfluous to say that hatching eggs should be of breed-typical size, shape and color. The average number of chicken eggs that a chicken of meat and egg breed, for example, New Hampshire, can successfully heat, is 12-16 pieces. When hatching young animals of other types of birds, the clutch size is reduced - you can lay up to 10 turkey eggs, about 7-8 duck or 4-5 goose eggs.
When collecting eggs for incubation, they are guided by the final number - if you need to add a dozen, they collect just that many - you can’t add fresh eggs for a hen that is already incubating eggs. The mother hen will stay in the nest for a short time at the end of incubation and leave it with her brood during the day, and the embryos that did not receive heat will die.
If you are not sure how many eggs the hen will be able to heat, collect and add more, and the excess remaining uncovered at the edges can be removed during the first day.
Kura decided to become a mother hen - the first stage
Nest placement and incubation
The nest for the mother hen is not made too spacious, so that the mother hen and a bed of straw can fit. A wooden box with a removable bottom will serve as an excellent nest - after hatching the chicks, the box is turned on its side, the bottom is attached, and the hen with the chicks gets a cozy shelter.
Soft crumpled straw is placed in the nest and the rest of the arrangement is provided to the hen - an experienced chicken will pick up fluff and lay the straw in the best way, making sure that the eggs do not roll into a heap and do not roll in different directions. If necessary, the chicken can be helped by laying a small, bowl-shaped nest under a layer of straw or spreading straw on the sides of the nest, creating a natural depression.
Other hens can interfere with the mother hen, disturb her, and in such a restless noisy environment, she can leave the clutch. Therefore, the nest is equipped in a separate room or a corner is fenced off for the hen. It is even better if the litter with a brood is provided not only with a separate room, but also with a small paddock.
The selfless mother hen does not leave the nest to eat, drink and recover. This can lead to exhaustion and death of the bird. The chicken that has sat on the eggs is not disturbed for the first days, and then every day they are removed from the masonry, offering her water and food, as well as the opportunity to stretch. At the same moment, you can inspect the nest and pick up bolts - unfertilized eggs.
They feed the hen with grain and dry turd - mash and succulent feed will cause indigestion.
The duration of incubation of chicken eggs is 21 days, after 19 days the chickens begin to break through the shell - pecking occurs, the hatching begins on the 20th day and all viable chicks are hatched during the day.
At the end of the hatch, the shells and eggs with frozen embryos are taken away and they try not to disturb the family during the first day, after which they install a drinking bowl and a feeder.
Mother hen - advantages and disadvantages
| Benefits of a mother hen: | Disadvantages of a mother hen: |
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Despite all the disadvantages, hatching chickens under a hen is worth practicing. Usually chickens show excellent maternal qualities, doing their job remarkably well. In addition, it is, in any case, an excellent experience that will help the novice poultry breeder understand the basics of keeping and raising poultry.
Hatching of young domestic chickens with the help of an incubator is an artificial process, without which breeding of some breeds is impossible. Yes, and the industrial production of eggs and chicken meat also involves breeding chickens in an incubator. It is this derivation method that will be discussed below.
There are a number of requirements for eggs intended for laying in an incubator, the observance of which guarantees the timely hatching of healthy and viable chicks for subsequent breeding. The video for this article illustrates the main points of hatching domestic chickens and caring for embryos.
Even a non-specialist understands that the masonry placed in the incubator must be fresh. Pre-incubation storage of embryos should not exceed ten days. Moreover, eggs should be stored in a cool place and always with a blunt end (base) up, periodically turning them around a vertical axis. This procedure must be done twice a day.
Although purity eggshell and is important for the selection of embryos when laying in an incubator, eggs cannot be washed. After such processing, the masonry becomes unusable.
It is best to select specimens that are initially clean, of the correct oval shape, without chips or damage. Common shell defects can be seen in the photos and videos for this material.
When viewing embryos through a special device (ovoscope), an air bubble (camera) 
quality eggs located at the base and slightly shifted to the shell. The yolk has a pronounced color and is located in the center. The protein structure is transparent.
You should buy eggs for laying in a kuvez (incubator) at a poultry farm or from the owners, in whose decency you are sure. Embryo defects can result in the hatching of a diseased and non-viable bird, or nothing will be hatched from the eggs at all. Oddly enough, the time of year for incubation also matters.
Despite the fact that chickens lay throughout the year, and the incubator is able to provide a constant temperature, it is still recommended to lay eggs in the couveuse in the spring.
This is done so that artificially bred young animals immediately get into comfortable warm and dry conditions and have enough fresh green food. Chickens from an incubator are much more tender than their counterparts from under a laying hen, and it is possible to grow a viable bird from them only with proper care, which is possible only in the warm season. Summer is the best season for breeding birds.
Preparation for hatching
Before placing embryos in a home incubator, carefully adjust the thermostat of the device so that the moisture content in the chamber is 60%. Humidity fluctuations are extremely undesirable. Egg laying is carried out at a temperature in the incubator of 37.5 degrees. Such conditions are the most optimal.
When turning on a household home incubator, you must carefully study the instructions attached to it, the controls and incubation modes. To install the couveuse, you should choose a flat and hard surface away from door and window openings and household appliances. The position of the device must be as stable as possible.
It is advisable to wipe the masonry shell with a dry rag from dust. The trays of the incubator should be rinsed well with hot water and dried in the sun. To humidify the air on the floor of the home incubator, place small containers of water. The ready-to-work couvez is shown in the video. Embryos should be placed in the incubator one day after the device is turned on.
Incubation process
Constantly monitoring the temperature and humidity in a working incubator is not required, the hatching of the chicks occurs without human intervention, but one should not eliminate oneself from the hatching of the chicks. To ensure the timely hatching of the chicks from the bookmark, it is necessary to change the location of the eggs in the tray twice a day. How to do this is shown in the video at the end of the recording. It is convenient to carry out the coup of embryos with a special device. On the last day before chicks are hatched, all clutches should be base down.
For the first two weeks, the temperature and humidity in the chamber are maintained at a constant level, and only on the 16th day the thermostat is set to 37.4 degrees, and the humidity level rises by ten percent. It should be remembered that even slight temperature changes in one direction or another can lead to the death of the embryos or disrupt the timing of hatching.