Developmental and behavioral effects of medetomidine following in ovo injection in chicks.

Developmental and behavioral effects of medetomidine were assessed in chicks following in ovo exposure on incubation day 4. Medetomidine at 25 and 50 μg/egg injected once into the air cell on incubation day 4, dose-dependently decreased the number of viable chick embryos starting on day 10 of the incubation. The percentages of successful hatching in the control and medetomidine treated groups were 93, 60 and 47%, respectively.