Exercise 2

Poultry Breeding and

Hatchery Management

Poultry Breeding
OObjectives:
Mating poultry for either

maintaining/increasing the current flock

or for selecting specific individuals for
improvement in one or more
characteristics
for size, weight, egg production, meat
quality, behavior, plumage, comb type,
or a combination of factors

Basic Requirements for

Breeding
O Proper identification of breed
O Performance record of the

animals

Poultry Genetics: Chromosomes

O Gender is determined

genetically by two sex

chromosomes.
O In mammals these are the X
and Y chromosomes,
O males - XY chromosomes
O Females XX
O In mating, parents each

contribute one sex

chromosome.
O Male determines gender
O In birds, sex chromosomes are

Z and W,

O females - ZW chromosomes
O males ZZ
O Female determines gender of

the offspring.

Punnett Diagram
O Make a square

divided into four

quadrants.
Write the genes of one
parent across the top
with one gene over
each quadrant.
Write the genes of the
second parent along
the left side.
In each quadrant write
a gene from each
parent.
Write the gene from
each parent that is
physically nearest the
quadrant you are
presently working in.

POULTRY GENETICS: sex linked

chromosomes
O In addition to determining gender, sex chromosomes

carry genes that can affect other traits, such as

plumage color.
O Genes responsible for sex-linked traits are on the long
sex chromosome, Z, but not the short sex
chromosome, W.

POULTRY GENETICS: sex linked

chromosomes

Result of mating black

rooster X barred hen:
All males barred
All females black

Standard classification of breeds

O Based on Specific Origin:
Asiatic
Mediterranean
English
American
OBased on Genetic Groups (native

chickens):
Batangas
Pangasinan
Bicol
Panay Island
Palawan
Cebu

Based on Utilization:
Meat
Egg
Dual
Fancy
Fighting

Breeds of Chicken Based on

Utilization

EGG Class
O Comparatively small
O
O
O
O

body size
Normally lays large
white-shelled eggs
Very active
Non-sitters
Leghorn, Minorcas,
Anconas, Mikawa

MEAT Class
O Large body size
O Slow movement
O Poorer egg layers
O Generally lay brown

shelled eggs
O Brahmas, Cochin,
Langshans, Cornish,
White Rocks

GENERAL
PURPOSE Class
O Medium sized good

layers
O Young ones are fast
growers
O Not so nervous as egg
class but more active
than meat class
O New Hampshire, Rhode
Island Red, Plymouth
Rock, Lancaster,
Nagoya, Cantonese

FANCY Class
O Beautiful plumage or

form
O Rare unusual
appearance
O Raised as ornamentals
or pets
O Frizzle, Bantams, Long
tailed

Onagadori Cock

FIGHTING Class
O Game fowls
O Claret, OasisRuble, Hulsay,

Schematic diagram of a typical breeding scheme for the production of

commercial hybrid chickens

Step 1. Four pure lines

FS

developed and
multiplied as foundation
stocks (FS) by breeders

Step 2. Grand parental

stocks (GPS) produced
from FS: only one sex of
each line is exported to
local franchises in the
country.

3-5 generations of
inbreeding & selection

GPS

AxB

CxD

Schematic diagram of a typical breeding scheme for the production of

commercial hybrid chickens

Step 3. Parental stock

produced by mating two

grandparental stocks.
May be produced locally
from imported
grandparental stocks.

Step 4. Commercial
hybrids (CH) or
synthetics

PS

AB

CH

ABCD

CD

Mating Methods Commonly

Used in Poultry
O Inbreeding

Mating of individuals
w/c are related by
ancestry
To increase the number
of pair of genes that are
homozygous in an
inbred population

O Used to establish pure line stock w/c is

more uniform and stable

O In the production of CH, FS are subjected
to inter se mating for 3-5 generations to
produce GPS

Mating Methods Commonly

Used in Poultry
O Crossbreeding
O Mating between animals belonging to

established breeds, varieties, or lines

O Increases frequency of heterozygous
individuals at the expense of homozygous
individuals

Mating Methods Commonly

Used in Poultry
O Grading or Upgrading
O Improved males are mated w/ low genetic

quality females
O Improvement in F1 is due to heterosis
O Example: mating of imported male (New
Hampshire) with indigenous or native-type
females
O Usually followed by SELECTION in succeeding
generations

Systems of mating

QUAIL
BROILER BREEDER
LAYER BREEDER
DUCKS
TURKEYS

1 male to every 3-4 females

1 male to every 8-10 females
1 male to every 10-12 females
1 male to every 4-6 females
1 male to every 10 females

Incubation of the Eggs

What is an egg incubator?

O equipment that creates the perfect

conditions for an egg to incubate

successfully
O designed to regulate temperature,
humidity and turn eggs at regular
intervals
O recreates the role that the broody hen
plays in nature

What is a setter incubator?

O For the first three quarters of the incubation

phase of an egg it must be placed in a

setter.
O This is where the eggs are turned on an
hourly basis.

O For chicken eggs this will be the first 18 days

of the eggs incubation cycle.

O After this period the eggs are placed in the

hatcher.

What is a hatcher incubator?

O The hatcher is the part of the incubator

O
O
O

where the eggs lay still for the last quarter of

the incubation phase
humidity is slightly higher at this part of the
incubator due to the fact that eggs require a
higher humidity towards the hatching phase
The hatcher creates a stable environment
for the eggs to hatch in.
No turning of the eggs happens during this
phase
The chick inside the eggs aligns itself so that
it can peck its way out of the shell.

Species

Incubation
Period

Egg Weight (g)

Chicken

21

50-58

Turkey

28

Muscovy Duck

28

Goose

28-34

Quails

17-24

Guinea fowl

28

Ostrich

42

Pigeon

17

85
80
150-200
10-12
40
1000-1900
52-68

Incubator Requirements
Stages of
incubation

Chicken
egg

Mallard Duck
egg

Setting

18 days

25 days

Hatching

3 days

3 days

Methods of Incubation
Natural : mother hen
Artificial :
Still-air or forced draft incubators
Traditional parched-rice method
tuong
Use of broody female Muscovy
Capable of setting 12-15 duck
eggs

Parched
(heated) rice
technique

based on the use of

heated paddy
(unhusked) rice and
embryo-generated heat

Still Air Incubator

O Basically an insulated box consisting of:
heating element
thermostat or temperature controller
egg tray
thermometer to measure the air

temperature
tray for water
hygrometer for humidity measurement
turning mechanism for automatic turning
of eggs
Air inside is circulated by convection
As the air is heated it expands and rises to

the top of the incubator

Forced Draft Incubator

O developed to overcome

temperature gradient
problems throughout the
incubator

O fan is used to circulate the

air

O gives uniform temperature

throughout the machine

Incubator Requirements
Temperature
right temperature to enable the metabolic
processes within the developing embryo
to occur at the correct rate

Hen - 38 oC
Still air (natural draft) - 38.8 oC
Forced draft - 37.2-37.8 oC

Note: High temp is more harmful than low

temp.

Incubator Requirements
Relative Humidity (RH)
55-60%
80%
25%

chicken egg
duck eggs
ostrich eggs

Low RH dry embryo, stick with shell

High RH drowned embryo

Hatchery Activities
Turning
at least 3x/day
improves the development of embryo
to prevent the embryo from sticking to
the shell membranes

Hatchery Activities
Candling
Done to determine the soundness,
quality, and fertility of the eggs

Egg Candling
O To test for fertility
O To remove infertile eggs and eggs w/ dead

embryo
O Usually done in 3 periods:

O 4th or 5th day of incubation

O 13th or 14th day
O 18th day

PRODUCTION PERFORMANCE IN HATCHERIES

Fertility rate
no. of fertile eggs
x 100
total eggs incubated

Hatchability rate
no. of hatched eggs x 100
total eggs incubated

Hatch of fertile
No. of hatched eggs X 100
No. of fertile eggs

What is Embryonic
Mortality?

Embryonic Mortality Rate

O Collected Eggs 10
O Incubated Eggs 9
O Fertile Eggs 6
O Hatched Eggs 5

EMR= [(fertile eggs-hatched eggs)/fertile eggs] x 100

EMR= 16.67%

Hatching Egg Recovery Rate

O Collected Eggs 10
O Incubated Eggs 9
O Fertile Eggs 6
O Hatched Eggs 5

HERR= (eggs incubated/eggs collected) x 100

HERR= 90%

Characteristics of good hatching egg:

O it must be clean
O has no crack or abnormalities in shell formation
O with ideal weight and size
O with ideal shape
O with ideal shell color
Rejects are sold as table egg

Measures of Efficiency

Chick sexing

Table 1
Breed/Genetic Group
1. Banaba
2. Paraoakan
3. Darag
4. Camarines
5. Bolinao
6. Lohmann
7. Cobb
8. Ross
9. Hubbard
10. Bantam

Table 3
O lnitial number of hens at the start of lay: 1,000 Lohmann

Month
January
February
March
April

Breeder Hen
Inventory
1000
990
980
970

No. of eggs
collected
156
288
480
630

No. of good
quality hatching
eggs
108
236
425
603

Table 4
HATCHERY
A
B
No. of eggs
incubated

9800

9800

No. of fertile eggs

9000

9500

No. of hatched eggs

8800

9000

Do not answer items 5 and 6 on page 46