Studies on Pre-Incubation Warming of Chicken and Turkey Eggs ,

IT IS a well recognized fact that decline in the hatchability of avian eggs during pre-incubation storage can be slowed down by subjecting them to certain “appropriate” conditions. These, in general, involve the placing of the eggs as soon as possible after oviposition in an atmosphere of high humidity and the ambient temperature of about 55°F. Funk (1949) and Landauer (1951) have reviewed the literature which bears on this point. The orthodoxy of this procedure apparently has been so well accepted that one finds little published evidence purporting to challenge its soundness. In a series of extensive studies on incubation methods, Jackson (1912) warmed chicken hatching eggs daily for a period ranging between 30 minutes and 2 hours. He found that this treatment resulted in improved hatchability. The study of Funk (1934) on the effect of high temperatures on the hatchability of chicken eggs appears to be the only other …