To be a parrot breeder is a very enriching feeling but getting better results than natural breeding is a much more intensified experience. Could we, the breeders, really make this difference? In order to answer this question David Vishnia, the Inca Incubator's developer, tested some common notions.

Temperature changes

The first consensus: in order to get better hatching results the temperature should be very accurate.

The best way to test this idea was to measure the temperature during the incubating process in nature.

For this matter, a Data Logger was hidden inside an artificial egg and placed in an Indian Ring Neck's nesting box in a wild environment and also In Rosslea's and King Parrot's nesting box in Vishnia's breeding farm.

The Data Logger datum shows an amazing incubating pattern in both places: the temperature increased and decreased between 35C and 39C during approximately one and a half hour cycle.

In addition, sensitive temperature sensors were attached to some eggs to check the temperature differences between the upper part and the lower parts of the egg: while the environment temperature was 16C, the upper part's temperature was 40C and at the lower part of the egg, the temperature decreased to 32C. Thinking of it, one must remember that the brooding female body temperature is between 41C and 42C

The deviations in the graph, in which the temperature drops to 30C, happened when the brooding female went out to eat.

With the same Data Logger, it was possible to identify pairs that were not sitting on the eggs properly: in this case, the graph showed a different incubating pattern so obviously the chicks did not hatch.

Conclusion 1

Inside the nesting box few factors are relevant and important: the female laying the eggs on the nesting box floor, the female rolling the eggs with her beak, and the female body position changing above the eggs.

All these factors enable the temperature changes inside the egg, and as a result - when the temperature increases, the fluid inside the egg expands and the air-cell shrinks.

While the temperature is decreasing this fluid shrinks and creates a low pressure inside the egg, which causes oxygen to penetrate through the porous eggshell to the blood strings attached to it, so that the embryo could get this oxygen and develop in the best possible way.

Humidity level

Another consensus between the breeders: in order to get better hatching results the humidity should be accurate and constant all the time.

As done before, we must test the humidity level during the natural incubating process.

According to well-known research, the ideal loss of egg weight during the incubation process is 15%+- 3.

This loss of egg weight is affected by two factors:

1. The Eggshell Thickness - food with high levels of Calcium will cause the eggshell to be thicker, and an egg that was laid first- its eggshell would be thicker than the last egg that was laid. Eggs with a thicker eggshell will lose less weight than eggs with thinner eggshells.

2. The Humidity Percentage - after the egg is laid the breeder has no influence on the first factor (the eggshell thickness) but he could change the humidity percentage to affect the loss of the egg weight.

Parrots from different regions need different humidity percentages: the Amazons, the Macaws, or the Grey Africans from the Rain Forests need higher humidity than the Cockatoos, the Rosellas, or the Ring Necks from the dryer areas.

In addition, the humidity in the nesting box is not constant and it varies during the day and according to environmental conditions.

Conclusion 2

According to all that, it is very important to maintain an average humidity level and to follow the egg weight loss.

During the breeding seasons the breeder learns from his incubating experience what the suitable humidity level for his parrots is. The humidity percentages are not necessarily equal at every breeding farm.

If the breeder will pay attention to the egg rolling, to the temperature range between 35C-39C, and to the humidity level according to his environmental conditions, as explained before, he should get better results than natural breeding.