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late air, as opposed to a still air machine,
which relies on convection) are far more accurate when it comes to
maintaining a constant temperature. The five key elements of successful incubation
are as follows: 1. Quality
fertile egg. 2. Hygiene. 3.
Temperature control. 4. Correct
amount of turning. 5. Humidity
control. Quality Fertile Egg For an egg to stand any chance of hatching, it
has to be of the highest quality. Diet is the main contributing factor, and
small inadequacies in the female's diet will show up
as poor hatchabilitv. Unfortunately, unless the egg has a poor shell qual |
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tors and there is a high skill factor to be
learned as to their husbandry. Most larger breeders tend to shy away from
this method as it is another job in itself. An incubator is required to
complete the hatching when using non raptor surrogates. INCUBATORS
Over
the last twenty years the use of electromechanical incubators has grown in popularity not only with raptor breeding but also in many
other branches of aviculture. Major steps forward have occurred in this
field not only with the advancement of the machines themselves but also in
our understanding and knowledge of the parameters needed to successfully
hatch a high percentage of eggs. It is essential that a deep understanding of
the egg's needs during incubation be acquired prior to trying to incubate
valuable eggs. Once a good grounding has been acquired then you need to gain
experience, which can only be obtained by trying out your techniques. In most
cases you are chasing your own tail, as with generally only a small number of
eggs being produced and incubated annually, it is hard to gain experience. I
have been fortunate in this respect; as well as incubating several hundred
raptor eggs annually we also house a large parrot collection and it is rare
for us not to have at least a few eggs in the incubators all year round. As to the question of which is the best type
and make of incubator, again experienced breeders hotly debate this. We use
the Roll X and Turn X incubators produced by Lyon's Electrical
Company and during the last season we have added a number of Grumbach S84
incubators which we are extremely impressed with. There are a number of other
makes of incubators which some breeders have expressed their confidence
in. It is now the accepted view that forced air incubators (ones with a fan
to circu |
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All incubators must be cleaned thoroughly and
fumigated prior to use, and frequently throughout the incubation season. This
is also the case for egg transport boxes, scales and any other areas the eggs
may come in contact with and particularly the human hands. Eggs that we find to be dirty or soiled when
removed from the nest, are cleaned with warm water before being placed in the
incubator. There are a number of commercial egg sanitant solutions available,
and if used, it is imperative that the instructions are followed exactly as
they have the potential to harm eggs if not. Types of bacteria found on a tree nesting
accipiter egg against a cliff nesting falcon egg will vary, and although it
usually doesn't affect its natural host it may well be lethal to another
species eggs. With this in mind we try not to have too dissimilar eggs within
the same incubators. We have found merlin eggs in particular, to be very
prone to cross infection from other eggs. Eggs that are found to be infertile or which
have ceased developing (died) when candled are removed from the incubator immediately. Hygiene levels cannot be over stated in
incubation, and it is a constant battle. In the ideal world each egg would
have its own |
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ity, which is obviously seen, the egg gives
little away optically as to its internal qualities. Eggs which fail to hatch,
can he sent for laboratory evaluation of their nutritional make up, with
a view to finding any shortfall. However the results are usually compared
with those obtained from poultry and any comparisons should he viewed
sceptically. Fertility can usually he determined by clay 5
or 6 of incubation via candling. Candling, is the term used to describe
placing the egg over a cool strong contained light source to view the
contents of the egg through the shell. At this period of incubation, if
fertile, the yolk will become mare defined in shape and begin to expand in
size. Accipiter, buteo and eagle eggs are more difficult to candle than
falcons due to their more dense and thicker shells. Although eggs have a mild resistance to
bacteria found in the wild nest, the bacteria found in captivity is generally
of a different type and can be lethal. As an egg is laid it cools and
contracts rapidly, any bacteria in contact with the egg may be drawn through
the shell. For this reason nest ledges and platforms should be kept as clean as practically
possible and yet again clue to easy access this is more easily achieved with
imprinted birds. |
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Modern Captive Breeding – Part
III ...continued |
