Science and the art of incubation

The artificial incubation of eggs of domesticated species can now be carried out with a high degree of success. However, advances in understanding about the problems faced by the developing embryo during incubation are still being made; and some may help "fine-tune" the incubation process. This paper deals particularly with the use of egg-cooling during incubation as a means of manipulating takeoff times, the use of water-vapor conductance monitoring by weight to predict the optimal humidity conditions for batches of eggs from different strains and species, cuticle-stripping to improve embryonic respiratory gas exchange, and some aspects of egg hygiene. Problems with hatchability usually can be traced to factors such as infertility, faulty breeder nutrition, disease status, or poor egg handling and hygiene, rather than to faulty incubation technique per se. Outlined here are the steps taken to solve an interesting but serious hatchability problem, the cause of which was traced to the presence of kapok seed meal in the breeder diet.