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14 - Diagnosis regarding widespread chick death during hatching
Obtaining poor hatching results is always frustrating, especially once the embryo develops but the chick does not
manage to survive and dies, in most cases, in the last 3 days prior to hatching (technically called: late embryo
mortality).
This type of embryo death can be caused for various reasons: in fact, nature is very selective and systematically
tends to prevent birth of weak subjects!
First and foremost, it is necessary to emphasise that even before implementing the operation method of the
incubator described in this manual, the secret to obtain good hatching lies in starting with suitable eggs, in full
compliance of the instructions in this manual.
If the eggs were properly selected, but the results did not meet expectations, we recommend prudence in
considering the incubator inappropriate or making a complaint without having previously eliminated the possibility
that the embryos or chicks died for other reasons.
The last and final analysis, which is the only chance to be certain about the cause of death before birth, can be
obtained through a report from a laboratory specialised in microbiological analysis, better still a veterinary
epidemiology centre, which can also carry out proper autopsy analysis. The causes of failed hatching can be thus
ascertained, which, in most cases, are due to: inbreeding, parents malnutrition, embryonic hypotrophy, altered
ovogenesis, viral infections or bacterial contamination, more frequently due to: escherichia coli, pseudomonas,
mycoplasmosis, staphylococcus, etc.
Fertility photoperiod
14.1 –
The month in which you incubate is also important. The average hatching obtained out of season is usually very low,
especially considering the decrease in duration of the photoperiod.
Even when candling provides positive fertility results, this does NOT mean that all embryo eggs will hatch. In fact, if
certain embryos are not perfect, they will develop just the same in the first stages but will die inside the egg in the
late phase of development, and will not hatch.
Below is a table regarding average embryo fertility based on the monthly length of the photoperiod:
Graph regarding average fertility based on the length of the annual photoperiod.
Rev 09
Page 17 of 20
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