Kirsten Our tips and recommendations for incubating and hatching chicks from fertile chicken eggs.
Day 0 – 18 Incubation –
Temperature: Set temperature on incubator to 37.7 degrees celsius.
Humidity: Add a few squirts of water into the bottom of the tray , under where the eggs sit. Try not to wet the eggs.
Generally speaking with hatching chicken eggs the humidity doesn’t matter too much within the first 18 days but I like to keep it around 40-45% humidity which can be measured using an additional hygrometer. Don’t be too concerned if the hygrometer temperature doesn’t match the incubator temperature as temperatures will fluctuate and airflow inside the incubator will mean the reading will change. Trying to keep it within 37.5-38 degrees throughout incubation is ideal.
Days of Incubation: Day 1 of incubation is when the eggs have been incubated for 24 hours so I recommend marking in the calendar when it is day 18 (lockdown) and day 21 (hatch day) although some chicks may hatch earlier or later. It’s normal for this to happen.
Turning The Eggs – If the incubator does not have any automatic turner you will need to turn the eggs 3 times a day by hand in the first 18 days. Normally the mother hen would do this. I mark each egg with a X & 0 so I know which side to turn to next time. I usually turn them by hand morning, afternoon and night time before bed.
Candling eggs: Turn off the lights and you can shine a torch into the round end (aircell) of the egg after about a week of incubating and any viable eggs should show spider like veins and heart beat if they are developing. You may even see them wiggling around. Some darker or coloured eggs may be harder to see.
You can candle the eggs again around 10 days and then I recommend doing it again at 16 days incubation. Check eggs for movement and discard any bad eggs. Bad eggs usually have greying of the shells or black blobs or red blood rings that just float around. The chicks won’t be moving. A completely clear egg means it was never fertilised and can be discarded. Be cautious of continuing to incubate a bad egg as there is risk of explosion.
As the chicks grow they will fill up the egg and just before hatch the eggs will appear mostly black aside from the air cell at the round end of the egg. The air cell will ‘dip’ and get bigger towards the end just prior to hatch also. They chicks at this stage will have limited movement as they are running out of room inside the egg.
LOCKDOWN – From day 18 until they hatch.
This is called lockdown. Time to stop turning your eggs and prepare your incubator for hatch.
Humidity Increase: You want to fill the bottom tray with water to spike the humidity over 65 % and enough water to last the next few days while they chicks hatch. Try not to overfill it though. If there is a hole in the bottom of the tray you can add more water as needed.
Line the incubator with a non slip mat or chux wipe. It needs to have holes in it to ensure even humidity and air flow throughout the incubator.
DO NOT OPEN INCUBATOR WHILE CHICKS HATCH – This time during incubation is called ‘lockdown’ as it’s important to not open the incubator while the chicks are hatching as the drop in humidity can cause the egg membranes to stick to the chicks and they will have trouble hatching. This is also known as ‘shrink wrapping’ or ‘sticky chicks’.
The Hatching Process
You may have already noticed tiny holes or cracks known as ‘pips’ in the egg shells. Sometimes it can happen early, but don’t be too concerned if you don’t start seeing this until day 20 or so. This is the first sign that your chicks are starting to hatch, however they may not completely hatch for another 48 hours or so. This is the time when they chicks are absorbing the egg yolk and if you try and help them out of the shell they may bleed out and die or be too weak to survive. It’s best to be patient and sit on your hands. Which is super hard I know. I suggest letting the any children in your household to know that it is important that they can look but don’t touch in this stage of incubation.
After absorbing the yolk through the umbilical cord, the chicks will slowly turn around inside the egg and crack a line along the shell until the top of the egg can be pushed off and they can break out completely. This is known as ‘zipping’. The time from pip to zip will vary. Some will take awhile and may cause you to be concerned, but it’s best to let nature take it’s course and trust the process.
Baby chicks can stay in the incubator without opening it for 48 hours or so. They will peep and carry on and encourage the other eggs to hatch. So it’s fine to leave them in there without food or water for a couple of days as they have just absorbed the yolk from the egg.
Most chicks hatch around day 21 but depending on incubator conditions and breed some may hatch earlier or later.
If you are concerned some chicks aren’t hatching or appear to be stuck then you can assess whether helping them will put others at risk. Sometimes you can quickly pop your hand in without letting too much humidity out to take them out and help, but best to avoid doing this unless completely necessary.
If you have any questions please let me know and I will be happy to help. Good luck and happy hatching!
