Layers

During the selection preferences given to the hens born in early spring.

First of all the bird's live weight should be determined. Thus, at the age of 4.5-5 months the live weight of hens of egg breeds should be not less than 1.4 kg.

Then the hen is examined beginning from the head, crest, eyes, dewlaps. For this it is taken by its both wings at their bases and the selector should pass his hand along the hen's breast and belly determining the degree of their development. A good layer has a wide and deep head, prominent and lustrous eyes, red crest and dewlaps, broad breast, level keel bone. The belly is voluminous, soft, the skin on it is elastic. The distance between the pubic bones should be equal to the width of 3-4 fingers, their ends are elastic and are spread broadly. Four fingers can be placed between the back end of the keel bone and the pubic bones of a laying hen.

After this, fixing the hen's legs tightly between the fingers of the right hand, the hen's back and thigh joints are touched with the left hand. A good layer has a level, long and broad back, its legs are strong, straight, broadly spread.

A layer can also be determined by its mew. For this open the hen's wing and count the amount of the flight feathers that have changed. The complete change of flight feathers lasts 3.5-4 months and finishes by their 150-180 days' age. The young hen that began to mew late will lay eggs for a longer time and give more eggs than the one whose mew will have finished by that time.

Defects of eggs

When checking eggs with the ovoscope, you can see the mottle of eggshell - multiple small light and dark spots on eggshell. Research conducted by L.V.Kulikov showed that such eggs are characterized by low hatchability and the less intensive development of an embryo. But if an egg is from a bird of a rare population or a rare breed and if it is of special interest, it can be laid for incubation.

The air chamber that characterizes the freshness of an egg can be seen near the blunt end of an egg - when shining it through - in the form of a spot that is a little darker than the contents of an egg are. The big dimensions of the air chamber - the height and diameter - witness to a long period of the storage of the egg. During the incubation of such an egg the embryo will lag behind in its development or will not hatch at all.

If at a sharp turn of an egg the yolk of an egg drifts to one of the ends of an egg or if its mobility inside the egg is too big, it means that one of charazas is torn or they both are. Such an egg is not good for incubation. Eggs are also culled by "blood ring", "spot", "cuff", "bloody white".

If eggs are very dirty, they should be cleaned from dirt with clean rag moistened in the solution of hydrogen peroxide or in the weak solution of potassium permanganate. Consolidated mud on eggshell occludes pores, complicates access of fresh air to the developing embryo and is also a source of infection.

Incubating eggs and raising young chickens in incubators allows getting day-old chicks in the necessary amount any time of year. When having the artificial incubation of eggs, there is no need to have broody hens that during hatching and also for some time after it stop oviposition thus reducing the yearly egg output.

As a matter of amateur poultry farming practice, there is often the situation when it is necessary to incubate several valuable egg from the birds of, for example, rare breeds or deficit goose eggs when there is no broody hen. Here small incubators can help.

The incubation of eggs in incubators can be of special importance in the conditions of farm poultry keeping when growing young chickens for the purpose of getting meat. As in recent years poultry livestock has reduced substantially, it is rather difficult to buy day-old broiler chicks, ducklings, turkey chicks and especially goslings in the required amount. This is why before beginning to grow young chickens for the purpose of getting meat, farm owners first get a small parent flock of adult fowl or they by themselves grow the fowl to breeding age, and then they get incubation eggs. Then appears the necessity to incubate eggs in incubators.

Of course, it is better to do this at incubator-poultry stations or in some incubator cellar in which the incubation machines and hatching machines are already adjusted and the incubation technology is fine-tuned. But it is not often that there is such a possibility and, so, incubators should be bought for a farm.

In practically all incubators not only hen eggs but the eggs of other poultry breeds can be incubated. But it should be kept in mind that the number of the eggs that are laid in the tray will be different. For example, duck and turkey eggs can be laid in the amount of 75%, goose eggs - in the amount of 42% only, and quail eggs - in the amount of 300% of the amount of hen eggs.

Selection of eggs for incubation

Not all eggs are good for incubation. They should be selected in accordance with the requirements that incubation poultry eggs should meet regarding mass, form, the state of eggshell and the content of an egg, the size of air chamber and other factors given in table 8.

Mass of eggs is determined by weighing on scales to one gramme. The requirements to the eggs from which young broiler chickens will be raised are mitigated regarding this factor. As a matter of practice, incubation eggs of hens of broiler crosses, of ducks, turkeys and geese are not culled by their mass, as every egg, especially goose ones, is said to be "worth its weight in gold".

Table 8. Incubation eggs quality parameters

The requirements to eggshell quality are strict. It should be clean, smooth, have no bumps and cavities and, above all, be intact, without cracks and insections which are easy not to notice during the external examination of an egg. Some poultry breeders determine the intactness of eggshell by slight striking one egg against the other and listening to the sound. However, this method is not good in wide practice - eggs can break and the accuracy is not high. The most reliable is to check eggs with the ovoscope.

The simplest ovoscope can be made of plywood in which an oval hole is made. Inside of a plywood box an electrical light bulb is placed. In the darkened premises the egg is brought to the ovoscope hole with its blunt end upwards and the state of eggshell and the content of an egg are checked. When shining eggs through, you can use a small electric torch placing it almost close to eggshell. Then an insection on eggshell can be seen well. It looks like a thin strip of light colour. Such an egg cannot be incubated. In the process of incubation too much moisture will evaporate through the crack, this will adversely affect the embryo's development. If the incubation egg is of big value, you can try and seal up the incubation with a thin strip of glue made on starch.

Aggressive cock

If the cock scuffles

Aggressiveness of the cock can be caused by different reasons. For example, by the lack of the space given for the birds. Then the cock accepts the intrusion of other birds as an encroachment upon its territory. The cock can even display aggressiveness because of the changes in its master's clothes. Catching of hens, their loud clucking or taking eggs out of nests in its presence also makes it nervous and agitates it.

The violation of the correlation between the amount of cocks and hens often becomes the reason for aggressiveness. The proportion of 1:10 can be considered normal.

For two or three days a pugnacious cock can be kept on a hunger diet in a darkened place, having provided the cock with the free access to water. Some people also cut the upper part of the beak and heels. 5-6 hours before the operation the cock should not have any feed. One third of the beak is to be cut. The operation is carried out carefully so as not to injure the tongue. The wound is cauterized with burning hot metal, tincture of iodine or manganese concentrated solution. If within 2 or 3 hours the wound continues to bleed, it is again treated with iodine or manganese solution.