The invention relates to household appliances intended for agricultural purposes and can be used for the incubation of eggs from any poultry bird at a homestead or a private household as well as in small business or for breeding poultry in small quantities. The small-sized incubator comprises a housing, preferably having the form of a parallelepiped, configured to have a frame structure (1); a heat-insulating cover (4), a heating element (11), a humidifier (13), a fan (14), at least one egg tray configured to rotate eggs, a temperature sensor and a humidity sensor, a control unit configured to be connected to a backup power unit, according to the invention, the said frame housing is configured to be assembled and disassembled with connectors (3); the said heating element is located on or directly above the inner surface of the heat-insulating cover; the incubator is equipped with an emergency fan (15) located on the top of the housing. Further, for another embodiment of the small-sized incubator which differs from the first one in that the humidifier is configured to be a high frequency membrane equipped with a reflector, which, according to yet another feature of the invention claimed, is located above the membrane at an angle from 30 to 60 to the membrane. The application of the present invention allows us to create an energy-efficient small-sized incubator with highly-reliable operation in a given range of air temperature and humidity by positioning heating, ventilation and humidification elements in the design of the incubator and, at the same time, by improving the ease of its operation and providing an opportunity for thorough cleaning by configuring the housing and the heat-insulating cover of the incubator so that the said elements are made assemblable and disassemblable.

A kit for converting a multi-stage egg incubator to a single stage egg incubator. The single-stage egg incubator conversion kit includes an air intake system, an exhaust/ventilation system, a heating source, a cooling source, an environmental control system, and humidity system all being capable of incorporation into an egg incubator. Components of the air intake system, exhaust/ventilation system, heating source, cooling source, and humidity system are operatively connected to the environmental control system to provide environmental control within a setter of the egg incubator, including selective cooling capacity, selective heating capacity, selective air flow between the setter internal environment and an external environment, and selective air flow from the external environment into two or more zones within the setter internal environment.

A kit for converting a multi-stage egg incubator to a single stage egg incubator. The single-stage egg incubator conversion kit includes an air intake system, an exhaust/ventilation system, a heating source, a cooling source, an environmental control system, and humidity system all being capable of incorporation into an egg incubator. Components of the air intake system, exhaust/ventilation system, heating source, cooling source, and humidity system are operatively connected to the environmental control system to provide environmental control within a setter of the egg incubator, including selective cooling capacity, selective heating capacity, selective air flow between the setter internal environment and an external environment, and selective air flow from the external environment into two or more zones within the setter internal environment.

A method for incubating avian eggs, comprising: a. introducing avian eggs into an incubation chamber having an oxygen-containing atmosphere; b. subsequent to a, incubating said eggs in said incubation chamber for a period of time that is not less than 25% of the natural incubation period of said eggs; c. during said period of time of the incubating, changing an orientation of said eggs at a frequency of not less than once every two days; and d. during said period of time of said incubating, varying a temperature of said atmosphere in said incubation chamber at a frequency of not less than five times a day, the varying comprising: increasing the temperature of the atmosphere from a first temperature to a second temperature, the difference between the first temperature and the second temperature being not less than 1.0 C.; and reducing the temperature from the second temperature to a third temperature, the difference between the second temperature and the third temperature being not less than 1.0 C. wherein the rate of said increasing the temperature of the atmosphere is not greater than 0.9/5 minutes; and the rate of said reducing the temperature of the atmosphere is not greater than 0.9/5 minutes.

A method for producing poultry at a hatchery includes incubating a batch of eggs in incubating trays in an incubating device during a first incubating period of between about 7 to about 11 days, and then, for each egg of the batch of eggs, determining of gender of the chick embryo, in particular after determination if the egg contains a well-developed or more specifically a living embryo, and based on the gender of a chick embryo, dividing the batch of eggs into at least a male batch portion and a female batch portion.

The sex of embryos in eggs is influenced or controlled through the application of light having selected wavelengths in order to promote the development of embryos of a selected sex. An incubating device is provided having an interior cavity that can be sealed from an outside, and having a plurality of lighting elements disposed on each of a plurality of trays disposed in the interior cavity. Eggs are disposed on the trays, and pre-determined environmental conditions are applied to the interior cavity to promote hatching of the eggs. Concurrently with the application of the environmental conditions, the eggs are irradiated according to pre-determined lighting conditions. The lighting conditions include applying light having wavelengths substantially concentrated in selected ranges, such as light wavelengths within the 390-419 nm, 410-450 nm, 420-450 nm, 450-495 nm, or other narrow range.

The sex of embryos in eggs is influenced or controlled through the application of light having selected wavelengths in order to promote the development of embryos of a selected sex. An incubating device is provided having an interior cavity that can be sealed from an outside, and having a plurality of lighting elements disposed on each of a plurality of trays disposed in the interior cavity. Eggs are disposed on the trays, and pre-determined environmental conditions are applied to the interior cavity to promote hatching of the eggs. Concurrently with the application of the environmental conditions, the eggs are irradiated according to pre-determined lighting conditions. The lighting conditions include applying light having wavelengths substantially concentrated in selected ranges, such as light wavelengths within the 390-419 nm, 410-450 nm, 420-450 nm, 450-495 nm, or other narrow range.

An egg grasp device is provided. Such a device includes a body and a plurality of elongated members extending from the body. The elongated members are interlaced to form a sheath capable of retaining an egg. The sheath has a distal end and a proximal end at which the elongated members are operably engaged with the body. The elongated members cooperate to define an opening at the distal end through which an egg is received when the elongated members engage and deflect about an egg such that the egg is seated within the sheath. Associated systems and methods are also provided.

The present disclosure relates to methods and systems in egg hatching, based on hatching eggs in a tray (2), comprising arranging eggs in a pattern in or on the tray, comprising egg supporting positions and holes together defining the pattern, wherein the holes are dimensioned to allow chicks (27) after hatching to pass there through into a crate (4), detecting at least one of numbers of unhatched eggs (22) in or on the tray; numbers of dead chicks in the crate; and numbers of objectionable chicks in the crate, and supplementing or removing chicks to or from the crate in correspondence therewith.

The present disclosure relates to methods and systems in egg hatching, based on hatching eggs in a tray (2), comprising arranging eggs in a pattern in or on the tray, comprising egg supporting positions and holes together defining the pattern, wherein the holes are dimensioned to allow chicks (27) after hatching to pass there through into a crate (4), detecting at least one of numbers of unhatched eggs (22) in or on the tray; numbers of dead chicks in the crate; and numbers of objectionable chicks in the crate, and supplementing or removing chicks to or from the crate in correspondence therewith.