I’m sure some of it depends on the species of bird, but I still don’t get it.
In: Biology
I keep poultry and egg sitting is interesting. When a bird is “broody,” meaning they are sitting on eggs, their normal day to day activities stop. They get up to drink, ducks will bathe, but then it’s right back to the eggs. If there is food readily available and nearby, they will eat it but they won’t go looking for food.
Many birds raise their young at a time of year when there’s not a danger of immediate death to the embryos if the mom gets up for 10-15 minutes, and artificial incubation protocols often incorporate this (recommendations for incubating duck eggs often include taking the heat off for 10 minutes a day and misting the eggs with water, for instance, simulating a mother duck coming back to the eggs with a damp breast).
Both temperature and humidity are factors in successful incubation, and mass has to be lost from the eggs through evaporation to leave an air pocket of appropriate size to facilitate hatching. The eggs being exposed to the air every day is part of how that happens
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