How do I know when my bird is sick?

      Artificial Incubation of Parrot eggs

Everyone has a different reason why they put in the time and effort to artificially incubate eggs. Some hens are poor mothers - they lay off the perch or into seed bowls, some eat their eggs. Other hens are loose sitters and nothing they sit on ever hatches. Some species are still quite valuable ( in money or genetic terms ) and increased production is the motive for incubation. By pulling eggs many birds can be induced to double clutch so numbers of eggs produced increases greatly. In a few cases diseases carried by the parents can be isolated by pulling the eggs and artificially incubating. 

          Undoubtedly the secret to successful incubation is viable eggs. To get a high percentage of viable eggs you need a healthy flock. To have a healthy flock you need good aviary management skills. So the old story comes around again - get the basics right in terms of how you manage your aviary and the rest will follow. It is not possible to have a poorly run aviary and a successful artificial incubation and rearing enterprise! 

Lack of egg viability may be due to a number of factors but it is rarely due to infectious diseases. More often it is related to parental factors: infertile eggs, egg trauma, inadequate plane of nutrition of the parents or hens that are exhausted due to excessive and prolonged breeding. 

                                    Other important factors in successful incubation are record keeping and hardware. Record keeping costs very little yet is critical to the success of the operation. Hatch dates, clutch size, fertility rates, hatchability rates, survival rates all need to be recorded. To improve the success of the incubation operation these records should be reviewed constantly and compared with other breeders to determine success rates. Just because you managed to incubate one Eclectus egg and it hatched, doesn’t put you in the expert category. You need to be comparing your results critically with other breeders. An interesting observation is that the success rate of any breeding enterprise is directly proportional to the amount of alcohol consumed at the time of success reporting! 

Hardware for incubation can be expensive. In fact it is argued that having two to three incubators of moderate cost is preferable to one of high cost. The incubator is only as good as the operator - even a simple incubator can be successful in the hands of a skilled operator. Incubators that are designed for poultry and waterfowl are not very successful for parrots. 

A good incubator should have a reversible turning action and be fan forced to keep the temperature even 

A good quality thermometer is necessary to constantly check the settings of the incubator. There are several really good small incubators with good digital controls for reasonable money – check out the advertisements in the magazines. 

For the novice at incubation, it is suggested that they do a practise run with something like cockatiel eggs before embarking on valuable eggs. 

        

! - Turn the incubator off - power surges can destroy the electronics 

2 - Close the incubator vents. 

3 - Cover the incubator with a blanket to conserve heat. 

4 - Get an estimate of how long the power will be off. I the power is to be off for several hours you may need to look at generators, hot water bottles etc. As a rough rule of thumb - eggs that are over two weeks of incubation can withstand some cooling for several hours. It is the early eggs that are most at risk. 

Remember to turn the incubator back on when the power is restored!!. 



Vibration 

The cause of many embryo mortalities is excessive vibration in the incubator. Unsteady tables, incubator doors that do not open smoothly, rough automatic turners will affect young embryos and will contribute to malpositions. Also remember the vibrations cause by heavy footsteps on wooden floors, slamming doors and the like. 



Disinfecting the Incubator 

Due to the heat and humidity in a parrot incubator, bacteria and fungi thrive. Germs are introduced into the incubator via eggs and human hands, so you need to follow strict hygiene procedures when working with your incubator. Use Aviclens in the water reservoir and disinfect the incubator weekly with Avicare. Both have been widely used in the egg incubation industry and are safe and effective. Wash and dry hands well before handling eggs or wear disposable gloves, remember that more diseases are transmitted by dirty hands than any other agent. 



Where do I put the Incubator ? 



Do not put your incubator in the lounge room, kitchen, laundry or garage. Incubators require a climate controlled room with minimal traffic and controlled light. A spare bedroom is probably the best; remove as much bedding as possible to reduce dust, close the curtains and ensure that the air conditioning is working. A controlled temperature of 22 - 27 0C is ideal, but temperature fluctuations are more critical than the actual temperature. Remember that incubators are designed to ADD heat not to cool. If the room temperature exceeds that of the incubator then overheating will result. 

Direct sunlight can affect the viability of embryos as well as cause temperature in the incubator to alter, make sure the incubator is not in direct sunlight at any stage. 



Candling 

Learning to candle is important to incubation. There are good books available which describe in detail the process of candling. Candling is a skill that is easily learnt and invaluable. 

Within 24 - 48 hours of pipping the egg will internally pip. It is during this phase that candling should be done every 6 - 8 hours. When the egg has internally pipped it can be moved to a hatcher as it does not require further turning. 



What is the purpose of weighing eggs? 

Weight loss from the egg during incubation is a result of water loss. All eggs loose water during incubation, the degree of water loss varies with species (from 9 - 20 % from day one weight to the time of the internal pip). Recording weight loss shows how the egg is progressing in relation to the normal for that species. Increased weight loss may indicate too low humidity or poor shell thickness, decreased loss is from too much humidity or a very thick egg shell. Other factors that alter weight loss are altitude, shell pore count, stress lines on the shell, damaged shell and temperature. 





What do I do with a damaged egg shell? 

Minor damage to a shell is easily fixed provided the damage does not extend through the inner shell membranes. Use a water soluble white glue and apply multiple layers to the damaged area until are well sealed. Take care not to cover too much of the shell area as respiration cannot occur through the repaired areas. 

Some repaired eggs will need to be hand turned as the embryo floats to the top of the egg and should not spend much time under the repaired area. Repairing the egg may also stop it from turning smoothly, in these cases hand turning is needed. 



How do I recognise a dead in shell? 



Candling will usually show that the embryo has died. Dead embryos will become very dark as the blood supply recedes. Blood vessels indicate a viable embryo, no active vessels means a dead embryo. 

The cause of dead in shell ( DIS ) are many and varied. Investigation of the DIS can be a useful tool in the management of the incubator. An odd death is not a cause for panic but repeat DIS eggs should be examined for causes. 



Nature still has the upper hand. 

Even with all the advances in incubator design and regulation we cannot hope to achieve the same results as nature in the incubation of parrot eggs. For instance we cannot simulate the incubation rhythm, where the eggs are allowed to cool periodically by the hen. 

If at all possible leave the eggs under the hen for the first 7 - 10 days of incubation. This appears to be the critical phase, after this time our crude incubation techniques are reasonably successful.