Chook Me!

why do some birds that are hatched in incubators lose the instinct to set on thier eggs learned on inctinct?

the birds i have had this experience with are quail & chickens. the lose of this behavior is sometimes in the 1 st generation & almost always by the second generation. is there a way to reverse this

Public Comments

1. Birds in nature dont hatch their eggs if they don't set them properly, but incubators allow live chicks from hens who would not reproduce in nature. You cant afford to reverse lazy behavior, because the only way to breed for good nesting practices would be to allow the eggs of the careless hens to die.