Die Bodenkultur - Journal for Land Management, Food and Environment

L. Veterány, S. Hluchý and J. Weis:

The influence of an artificial sound stimulation on the chicken hatching from incubated eggs with the variant of weight

Summary

In the work the influence of an artificial sound stimulation on the Hampshire breed chicken embryo, in dependence on the set eggs weight, was studied. For stimulation, an electronic sound generator with intensity of the stimulating sound 10 dB and 20 dB and the frequency of 5.7 Hz was used. Loudspeakers were placed into hatcheries on the 19th day of incubation. The set eggs were divided according to their weight into four groups: the weight of the incubated eggs in the first control and experimental groups ranged from 55 to 56 g; in the second control and experimental groups it ranged from 57 to 58 g; in the third control and experimental groups it ranged from 59 to 60 g; and in the fourth control and experimental groups the weight ranged from 61 to 62 g. In the control groups the set eggs were hatched without sound stimulation; in the experimental groups loudspeakers of an acoustic transducer of sound with the variant intensity of the stimulating sound for 10 and 20 dB and the frequency interval of 5.7 Hz were placed asymmetrically at the incubators sides. When using the sound stimulation on chicken embryo, the best results were achieved in the third experimental group (59 - 60 g) in which the results were as follows: beginning of beakclapping in 493.90 ± 6.771 hours (with intensity of the stimulating sound for 10 dB) and in 489.50 ± 4.648 hours (with intensity of the stimulating sound for 20 dB); the whole group beakclapping time was 10.60 ± 0.663 hours showing thus significant difference of results, if compared with the third control group (table 2). The variable of intensity did not have any significant influence on the beginning of beakclapping, on the whole group beakclapping time as well as on the hatching time. The results show that the most suitable weight for a sound stimulation of the Hampshire breed set eggs is 59-60 g. Key words: hatching, sound stimulation, weight of eggs, chicken.