Chicken Hatching Eggs

If you are new to incubating chicken hatching eggs, there are a few tips you need to know. Most eggs will hatch 21 days after laid, whether the hen is setting on them or you are incubating them. If you are going to use an incubator, plug it in and get the temperature to 99.5 degrees. You are going to need a thermometer and a hygrometer to measure humidity of 50% for the first 18 days and 70-80% for the rest of the hatching period, which is important in chicken hatching eggs.

You will need to mark the eggs so that you can tell how you are progressing in the daily turning that is necessary. Most people will put an "X" and an "O" on opposite sides of the eggs and turn them 3 times per day, to prevent the embryo from sticking to one side or the other, just like a mother hen would normally do. In an incubator, you have to keep the moisture level consistent, and some incubators will have reservoirs, but you can use small paper cups or a pie pan with water in them to provide humidity.

You can start candling the white-shelled eggs from 3 to 7 days, because fertility is unlikely to be possible with all of the chicken hatching eggs you are incubating. Only 55% to 75% can be expected to be fertile, in most cases. The way that you do this is to place a light under a cardboard box that has a hole cut out of it slightly smaller than the egg, so you can hold the egg over the light.

When the light shows through the egg, you should see a cloudy spot growing, which will be the embryo. If you don't see anything around 7 days, where it appears the egg is clear, chances are it isn't going to hatch. You may also see the small air bubble at the end of the large end of the egg. This is where the chick will peck its way through the shell, and it is a shock absorber during the incubation period.

The humidity level at the end of the incubation period needs to be higher, because the bubble will grow large enough for the chick to get out. You don't want it too high, or the bubble will become too large and the fluids will get dried out too quickly, slowing the chick's development, or causing the shell to stick to the chick, making it hard to get out.

When it comes to chicken hatching eggs, you want to make sure this larger end is slightly elevated above the smaller end, so the chick will be in the right position to free itself. After the baby chicks have hatched, they can stay in the incubator for another day or two without food or water. After that you will want to feed baby chick mashed food and keep very shallow watering containers to keep the chick from drowning.

Chicken hatching eggs are fun, but can be time consuming, unless you have an incubator the turns eggs automatically. You can frequently find chicken hatching eggs and incubators for sale from private sellers or dealers. We make it easier for you to find the listings, if they are on the market.

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