Experiment on Sand Incubator: An Alternative Mini-Hatchery Technique for Smallholder Poultry Farmers
The experiment was conducted to compare and evaluate the hatchability and survival rate of a sand incubator and natural hen incubation technique and to estimate the profitability of the two different incubation techniques. The results of this study indicated that fertility, hatchability and dead in shell there were no significant difference (P>0.05) among the treatments. Embryonic mortality, normal DOC, abnormal DOC and chick weight showed significant differences (P<0.05) among the treatments. Higher embryonic mortality (17%) in broody hen than (9.2%) in sand incubator was observed. On the first batch, the net return per 100 eggs in sand incubation was 177.83 ETB ($9.3) which is higher net return/ profit from that of the broody hen incubation (-441.05 ETB) or ($-23.0) which were not profitable for the first batch at 70.80% hatchability. On the 1st year run the net return was estimated and can incurred by sand incubator which make it sustainable in profitability for the smallholder farmers by making high income for the next seven years of production period. Finally in order to improve the performance of the hatchery traits before the technology adopt to the farmers intensive adoptive research should be conduct and also training of smallholder poultry producers in the hatchery management of sand incubator is very crucial. Keywords: Sand incubator, broody hen, hatchability, net return