Egg Weight, Fertility, Embryonic Mortality, Hatchability and Keets Survival Rate after Brooding of the French Broiler Guinea fowl Raised in the Humid Tropics of Nigeria

Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate fertility, embryonic mortality, hatchability and early survival rate the French broiler guinea fowl (FBGF) raised under the Nigerian humid tropics. About 116 hatching eggs of the FBGF were sourced from Songhai Agricultural Research Center in Funtua, Katsina State, Nigeria. The eggs were incubated using an automated incubator. Fertility, Embryonic mortalities, Hatchability and keet survival rate were investigated. The result indicated that fertility was 94.5%, early embryonic mortality, late embryonic mortality and hatchability were 12.2%, 8.6% and 91.4% respectively. Average keet hatch weight was 22 g and keet survival at brooding was 72.1%.