The Resistance of the Chicken Embryo to Low Temperature Exposure

LAMSON (1918) reported that chick embryos from strong stock survived exposures of four to five hours at 50°F. after the first twenty-four hours of incubation. From this point on he found that the time could be increased up to 15 hours for the 10 to 12-day embryo, although after the 17th day six hours’ exposure caused the death of the embryo. Taylor et al. (1933) reported the effects of twelve hours of current interruption on different lots of eggs at various daily stages of development. They found that a room temperature of 70°F. during this period reduced the number of chicks hatched only by about 3.4 percent. These authors also pointed out that Kaestner (1896) found that embryos at six days of incubation could withstand 72 hours at 69.8°F. while Bucciante (1931) observed that there was no resumption in development of eggs incubated several days after one or two hours …