The Incidence of Physically Abnormal Turkey Hatching Eggs and Their Relationship to Hatchability

INTRODUCTION MOST commercial turkey hatching eggs have only about a 60 percent chance of producing a healthy poult. The reasons for such a low reproductive response are many and varied. It is well known, for example, that fertility as measured by most commercial hatcheries does not approach 100 percent. The influence of a group of factors, classified here as physical abnormalities upon hatchability of turkey hatching eggs, has not been studied in great detail. In a study of several physical measurements of turkey eggs, Brunson and Godfrey (1953) reported that only extreme; variations in shape were detrimental to hatching. Shell thickness, as measured by specific gravity, has been shown by Payne and McDaniel (1958) to have an influence on hatchability, since they reported that more help-outs came from eggs of low to medium specific gravity. Although Phillips and Williams (1944) reported a lack of relationship between specific gravity and hatchability, . . .