External Morphology of the Turkey During the Incubation Period

Abstract

EMBRYONIC mortality has been used quite extensively to evaluate different methods of incubation and to determine the effects of various nutritional factors on hatchability. To facilitate this work the embryonic development of the chick has been thoroughly investigated, but more extensive information pertaining to the development of the turkey embryo has been needed for some time. That the weight of the turkey embryo is of value as an age determination factor has been reported by Scott and Hughes (1932) and Wilhelm and Robertson (1941). It was thought that a faster and more reliable method of estimating the age of any embryo that failed to survive the incubation period would be to make determinations on the basis of external structural developments. It was the purpose of this study to determine the daily changes in structural development, so that the age of any turkey embryo could be established on the basis of . . .