Japanese bantams bred for exhibition must have short legs, according to the Standard of Perfection. Unfortunately this trait comes with a dominant lethal gene called creeper (Cp). The creeper gene causes embryos to die during incubation, resulting in a reduced hatch rate for Japanese bantam eggs. Here’s how the lethal creeper gene works: Creeper Genetics […]
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Coccidiosis is the most common disease of brooded poultry. It affects primarily chicks and poults (baby turkeys). But it may also (though rarely) affect keets (baby guinea fowl), ducklings, and goslings. It is the most common cause of death in young poultry. What Is Coccidiosis? Coccidiosis is an intestinal disease caused by protozoa. It most […]
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A setting hen doesn’t know (or doesn’t care) whether or not the eggs she hatches are her own. Under natural conditions her nest may consist of a collection of eggs from various hens in the flock. So, you might deliberately use your broody chicken hens as foster moms to hatch eggs laid by other hens, […]
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Precisely how long an egg takes to hatch depends on a lot of factors including species, breed, strain, conditions under which the egg was stored prior to incubation, and conditions during incubation. But whether you plan to hatch eggs in an incubator or under a hen you need a more definitive answer the question: How […]
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Chicks, ducklings, and babies of other barnyard birds are precocial, meaning they are able to feed themselves almost from the moment of hatch. Precociality is the reason why chicks peep before hatching. The word precocial comes from the Latin word praecox, meaning early to mature. A fancier word for precocial is nidifugous — from the […]
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In the normal course of events, two yolks appear in approximately 0.1% of eggs laid, or about one in every 1,000. So why are we lately hearing so much about those rare double yolk eggs? And what causes double yolk eggs in the first place? Causes of Double Yolkers A double yolk egg occurs while […]
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An egg’s internal qualities cannot be determined by looking at the outside of the egg. Detecting such things as blood spots, double yolks, hairline cracks, and thin shells requires candling the eggs. Candling means examining the contents of an egg by placing it against a bright light. It’s called candling because the bright light was […]
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A chick’s baby feathers are delicate and vulnerable while the bird grows a complete set of adult plumage. Until then, unsightly feather loss in baby chicks may be caused by rubbing or picking. Sequential Molting When a chick reaches the age of three and four weeks, its body feathers grow and fill out. By the […]
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If you would wonder what the word poultry means, you might think first to look in the American Poultry Association’s Standard of Perfection. At the front of the book is a glossary covering 8-pages of terms from “A.O.C.” to “yearling,” but no “poultry.” So, what is poultry? Definitions of Poultry Even though the Standard doesn’t […]
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Whether or not using more than one incubator makes sense depends on how much hatching you plan to do and how many different chicken breeds or poultry species you wish to hatch. Most incubators for home use are designed for batch hatching. Sometimes, though, you might not want to wait until the eggs hatch before […]
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