The following article appeared in the December 1997 issue of
International Zoo News Vol. 44/8 (No. 281)

EGGS AND CHIPS: NEWLY DEVELOPED SOFTWARE TO AID
ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION.

Mark Pilgrim B.S.c., Avicultural Deputy, Chester Zoo, UK

Incubation was once regarded almost as a 'black art' - eggs hatched only when the wind blew in the right direction, more recently, the incubation equivalent of 'green fingers' has not been so important as the incubation of bird eggs has taken a step towards a more scientific approach. A computer programme, called AIMS (Avian Incubation Management System) has recently been developed by David Le Mesurier, which takes us a step further still. It allows us to record, calculate and manage eggs in a very accurate and exacting, scientific way. By following a few basic rules a very high standard of incubation success is available to everyone by making the whole process of egg management much quicker, easier and more accurate.

David Le Mesurier is an experienced aviculturist, falconer and an incubation specialist, as well as a computer programmer. This combination means that he has been able to develop a programme which encompasses the theory and practical problems of incubation in a user friendly programme that does not require the user to possess a great deal of knowledge of either incubation or computers.

At the beginning of 1997 it was decided that the incubation system at Chester Zoo would benefit from computerisation. We hoped that AIMS would not only increase the hatching success but also give us much quicker and easier access to the egg records, and this proved to be the case.

The bird collection at Chester Zoo includes over a thousand individuals of more than 200 species, of which 123 are of conservation concern. A collection of this size, ranging from ostriches to waxbills, produces a huge variety and quantity of eggs each year. In an average year around 450 eggs pass through the incubation area. Until this year (1997) all egg data including parentage, incubation conditions, egg weight charts etc. was kept on paper. Therefore, it took a considerable amount of time to pull out specific information, such as egg reports from a particular species as requested by the studbook keeper. It was not possible (and at that time we felt it was also not necessary) to weigh each egg every other day, do the weight loss calculations, plot the graphs and move the eggs accordingly. Instead, it was only those eggs, which were either from threatened species or that we knew from past experience needed more attention in order to hatch, that were given this high level of management.

Initially we found the data validation of AIMS annoyingly strict and this made the data input frustrating. Once we had been using AIMS for a while we realised however that this is not a weakness of the programme but actually one of its strengths, as it forces you to be more accurate and observant. The time saved by using AIMS meant that it was possible to give every egg the detailed management that we previously only afforded the most important. This factor alone has certainly improved our hatching success. It is interesting to see the variation in eggs even from a single clutch, whereas for example, all eggs from a clutch of waterfowl would previously have been incubated in the same incubator, we have found that in many cases one or two of the eggs from a single clutch require very different treatment, perhaps due to differences in shell thickness and structure.

Initially all incubators need to be entered in to AIMS, this also includes any bantams or pigeons used as 'living incubators'. AIMS requires a description of your incubators, their running temperature and relative humidities. It is vital that these are measured accurately as AIMS will use this information later to recommend which incubator to put specific eggs in. Once your incubators have been added to the programme you can start adding eggs.

When you enter an egg, AIMS assigns it a unique system ID number and asks you a number of detailed questions. This includes the taxa of the mother and father, which are selected from a complete taxon list at the level of subspecies. The full subspecific taxon list for each bird order is available on a separate disc. You are also asked to enter the dates and times between which the egg was laid, the incubation period for that species and the percentage weight loss required. Once the egg information has been put in, AIMS calculates a number of things: the required humidity the egg needs to achieve the percentage weight loss you have specified for that egg, the nearest incubator you have to the required humidity and the percentage weight loss the egg will achieve at pip if placed in that incubator.

The backup service for AIMS has been excellent, most problems can be solved with a quick phone call. AIMS comes with a very informative manual, which unlike most programme manuals is actually very useful. It explains the modern incubation theories as well as the practical side of how to use the programme. The system runs okay on a 386 computer but would run much faster on a 486 or better still a Pentium. A fully working demo copy of AIMS is available from the web site at http://www.avianmanagement.com.

AIMS was initially developed as an egg management programme, later in order to speed up the input of the parent birds it was developed to include a full stock database. Most zoos subscribe to ISIS and use ARKS as their stock database programme. While AIMS is capable of doing at least all of the things that ARKS can do, most zoos will probably not want to run two stock database programmes at once, and since they are already running ARKS and this information is collated to produce the very useful ISIS abstracts, they are unlikely to change. This should not however put them off using AIMS as the real value of AIMS is as an egg management programme.

AIMS is a developing programme that is far more than a time saving device, although this alone would make it a valuable tool. It will prove to be even more useful in the future as everyone who uses it is required to send their incubation data to David Le Mesurier at the end of each season. The information from this data, such as incubation periods, Kw values and fresh weights will be added to the programme as reference values, which will be available to everyone for the following season. Within a few years it will contain extremely accurate reference information which will make its subsequent calculations and recommendations even more accurate.