Using egg density and egg mass techniques for incubation stage assessment to predict hatch dates of Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus ruber roseus eggs

Egg density and the egg mass techniques for incubation stage assess­ ment were developed to predict the hatch dates of Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus ruber roseus eggs laid in captivity at WWT, Slimbridge, UK. The accuracy of each technique was tested on 20 parentally incubat­ ed eggs by comparing actual hatch date with predicted hatch date. For the egg mass technique a strong positive correlation existed between actual and predicted fresh mass, suggesting that model accuracy was high. Both techniques predicted hatch dates within two days 80% of the time. These techniques were found to be useful for accurate incubation stage assessment of Greater Flamingo eggs and the authors encourage aviculturalists managing captive colonies to use them.