Using egg weight loss to improve hatchability
Good hatchability is dependent on meeting all crucial incubation parameters. One of these important parameters is weight loss. Eggs should lose 11-13 per cent of initial weight during the first 18 days of incubation. If you having problems with hatchability then follow these tips below.
-Aim for 12 per cent total weight loss from initial egg weight during the first 18 days (between 0.6-0.7% per day) for optimum chick quality.
-Use either a fixed relative humidity set point of 50 – 55% or alternatively allow a gradual decline from 60% to no less than 45%, to allow sufficient evaporation of water from the eggs.
How to calculate egg weight loss :
- take few eggs per batch (10 per 360 eggs)
- before loading into trays, weigh each egg and write the weight on the egg with a koki or pencil
- at the end of day 18 and before transfer to hatcher, collect the eggs that were weighed and select the fertile ones.
- weigh the fertile eggs again and subtract weight from original weight. (Day 1 weight =50g, Day 18 weight = 45g, Difference is (50-45) 5g, 5/50=10% weight loss.
- work out the average weight loss over the fertile eggs.
- if the weight loss is not within the range 11-13 percent, increase (if weight loss is higher than 13%) or reduce (if eight loss is less than 11%) incubator humidity by 1-2 % for next batch until weight loss is within the optimal range.
- do the egg weight loss computations for every batch to ensure your incubators are performing well.
