The effects of ages of light breeder hens and storage period of hatchabe eggs on the incubation efficiency were evaluated. A total of 7,224 Dekalb hatching eggs were assigned according to the sample random design, and the hatching tray height was considered a co-variable. The treatments were defined according to the breeder hens ages (32 and 57-week-old) and the period of storage of eggs (three, five, and seven days), with 14 replications. The age of the hen affected the weight of the eggs. There was loss of weight of the eggs of 32 and 57-week-old breeder hens during storage (10.48 and 14.16%, respectively) and transference (10.40 and 12.07%, respectively) according to the aging of the breeder hen. Eggs produced by the younger breeder hens had a higher hatching rate; however, no matter the age of the breeder hen, there was a decrease of the hatching rate of fertile eggs (86.06 and 82.39%, for the 32 and 57-week-old breeder hens, respectively) whenever the storage period was increased. The 57-weekold breeder hens produced heavier chicks and lower chick/egg weight coefficient.
breeder hen; storage; incubation; fertile eggs
