Hatching Eggs at Home: A 21-Day Guide for Baby Chicks

Mikelle Roeder, Ph.D.

Multi-Species Nutritionist

Hatching eggs at home can be a fun project for those looking to grow their backyard flocks. Incubating chicken eggs is a 21-day process and requires an egg incubator to help control temperature, humidity and egg turning. To help baby chicks start strong once they’ve hatched, feed a complete Purina® chick starter feed from hatch until week 18, or when the first egg arrives.

Incubating eggs is a fun, 21-day project that can be successful with careful attention and a few special pieces of equipment. With care, vigilance and planning, you will be able to hatch baby chicks that grow up to become part of your backyard flock.

Keep reading for a step-by-step guide to hatching eggs at home:

Prior to incubating chicken eggs: Secure fertile eggs and chick starter feed

The first thing you’ll need to hatch chicks is, of course, eggs. For hatching to occur, the eggs must be fertile. Fertile eggs can be collected from hens who are housed with a rooster.

How to set up the egg incubator

Fertile eggs can be hatched by using an egg incubator. An incubator is an enclosed structure with a fan and heater to keep eggs warm during the 21-day incubation period. When determining which incubator to purchase, we recommend using an incubator with some automatic features, such as egg turning (which is critical to chick development and to keep the chick from sticking to the inside surface of the shell) and a fan to facilitate even heat distribution.

Temperature and humidity inside the incubator are critical factors for successfully hatching eggs. Suggested guidelines are as follows:

• Optimum temperature: 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit
• Temperature range: 99-102 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Don’t let temperature drop below 99 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Do not allow temps of 102 degrees Fahrenheit to last more than a few hours
  • Double-check the incubator’s thermometer with a medical thermometer placed nearby to ensure the gauge is working properly.
• Relative humidity, day 1-17: 50-55 percent
  • Equivalent to a wet bulb temperature of 85-87 degrees Fahrenheit
  • Keep water channels in the incubator full to facilitate proper humidity
• Relative humidity, day 18-21: On day 18, raise the relative humidity to 70 percent
  • Use a hygrometer to ensure humidity levels are correct throughout the incubation period
• Only open the incubator when necessary – doing so can let heat and humidity escape and can affect the success of the hatch.
• Increase ventilation as embryos grow bigger, especially from days 18-21.
• Keep in mind these are recommendations for hatching chicken eggs. If you are hatching eggs of other species, the specifications and incubation times will be different, so you will need to research those requirements and adjust your incubator accordingly. For that reason, it is not advised to incubate eggs from different species in the same incubator at the same time

• Day 1: Setting eggs

• Once you have the incubator set-up and have analyzed the settings to ensure accuracy, you are ready to place the eggs inside the incubator. This process is called “setting the eggs.”.

• Day 1-18: Turning the eggs

• After setting the eggs, the incubation process begins. An important part of this process is turning, or rotating, the eggs.

• Days 7-10: Candling eggs

• Towards the middle of the incubation period at 7 to 10 days, eggs can be candled to determine if the embryos are growing properly.
  

  • If the inside of the egg is clear - that is, free from visible structures or dark areas - the egg is infertile, or the embryo died very early. Remove this egg from the incubator.
  • If a ring of red is visible within the egg, there was an embryo at some point, but it has died. Remove this egg from the incubator.
  • If you can see blood vessels within the egg, there is a live embryo inside. Blood vessels in chicken eggs are normally observable within 7 to 10 days of an egg's incubation. By 18 days of incubation, the embryo takes up most of the egg and appears as a dark area within the egg. You can sometimes see movement inside the egg.

  If you notice broken or leaking eggs, remove them from the incubator as they are not likely to be viable and may contaminate the incubator. After candling, return eggs to the incubator and return to the day 1-18 turning schedule.

• Days 18-21: Pre-hatching

• By day 18, the embryo has developed into a chick and will take up most of the space in the egg. The chick is preparing to hatch. You can do a few things to best help the baby chick prepare:
• Stop egg-turning at day 18 with the larger end of the egg facing up. At this point, the chick will position itself for hatching inside the egg.
• Maintain a temperature of 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit but increase humidity to 70 percent.

• Day 21: Baby chicks start hatching

• Chicks will typically hatch at day 21. If the fertilized eggs were cooled prior to incubation, the process might take a little longer. If you are at day 21 with no hatch, give the eggs a few more days.

گھر پر انڈے چھیننا: بچ Chوں کے بچ forوں کے لئے 21 دن کا گائیڈ