Poultry 101

Selection of Hatching Eggs

Jerry D. Jones

Most folks set as many eggs as their breeders produce. If incubator space is the limiting factor, it is more profitable to select the better quality eggs for incubating.
A few tips to follow when selecting hatching eggs are:

• Select eggs from breeders that are
  1. well developed, mature and healthy
  2. compatible with their mates and produce a high percentage of fertile eggs
  3. are not disturbed much during the mating season
  4. fed complete breeder diet
  5. not directly related [brother, sister,mother, father, etc.]
• Avoid excessively large or small eggs. Large eggs hatch poorly and small eggs produce small chicks. It's also a good idea to avoid setting double-yolk eggs. Yes, if you are lucky, you will get twins. However, much like human twins, one will be undersized and may not survive so be aware of this. They may look like identical twins but they did not develop from a single egg that split but rather from two different eggs caught in the same shell.
• Avoid eggs with cracked or thin shells. These eggs have difficulty retaining moisture needed for proper chick development. Penetration of disease organisms increases in cracked eggs. Pay special attention the tip of the large end - it is fairly common to find a soft spot about half a centimeter in diameter that is discolored. It usually appears lighter in color and is actually much thinner than normal. Here is one point that often is not clearly understood: As the chick develops, the shell becomes thinner because the bird actually absorbs it to build its bones and body. The entire surface is used at an equal rate so that any thin area will actually disappear well before development is complete.
• Do not incubate eggs that are excessively misshapen. You will sometimes find shells that are slab-sided, that is one side will be more or less flat. There will also be some that look like Granny was practicing her needlepoint work on one side. Avoid all of these because they hatch poorly and the chicks will likely be very weak.
• Keep only clean eggs for hatching. It is perfectly fine to wash any dirty egg as long as you remember THREE very important points. The wash water MUST be warmer than the eggs to prevent a vacuum from forming inside that will pull material through the shell. You should always use an antibacterial soap in the water to help with cleaning and to kill surface germs. We used the "Dial" brand, ourselves, but I suspect they are pretty much all the same. Do NOT leave the eggs in the water any longer than necessary and allow them to drip-dry.
  

NOTE: This same procedure should be used for eggs that will be sold - don't want to loose good customers, do we?

Last modified: 18-July-2001