Prenatal Parent- Young Interactions in Birds and Their Long Term Effects

TLDR: It is suggested that an incubating bird may be affected by the growing embryos inside its eggs even before the pre-hatching stages, as well as progressive thermogenesis, changes in weight, and gravitational properties.

Abstract: Publisher Summary Mutual stimulation during incubation may have immediate as well as long-term effects on the onset of chick care in the parent and on hatching and early postnatal responses in chicks. This chapter describes the aspects of incubation behavior and embryonic development, effects of embryonic stimuli on behavior of the incubating bird and the onset of chick care, and effects of parental stimuli during incubation on survival and behavior of the embryo and newly hatched chick. The chapter suggests that an incubating bird may be affected by the growing embryos inside its eggs even before the pre-hatching stages. The effects may result from embryonic movements as well as progressive thermogenesis, changes in weight, and gravitational properties. Under normal conditions of incubation, the behavior of the incubating birds undergoes significant changes, starting in some cases about 2 days before the hatching of their young. However, more detailed observations are desirable on the degree of attentiveness in correlation with incubation temperature, as well as on the frequency of rising, egg shifting, and parental vocalization, both in birds sitting on developing and non-developing eggs.