How To Hatch Chicken Eggs: A Complete Timeline
While hatching baby chicks from eggs is an enriching (potentially profitable) experience, it requires careful planning and precise attention to detail. Mix with patience and the right equipment, and you’ll have your batch of baby chicks. Let’s go over the basics of hatching chicken eggs, like how to prepare an incubation room, how long it takes chicks to hatch, and what to feed chicken hatchlings.
Essential Supplies Needed For Hatching Baby Chicks
All good projects, from pastry to painting to incubating, start with gathering equipment. Having everything ready for the whole process before you start naming your eggs will make your life much easier. Here are the supplies you need for hatching baby chicks:
- Incubator: An incubator is a temperature-controlled warming machine designed to provide the correct humidity and temperature conditions for incubating and hatching fertilized eggs.
- Fertilized eggs: The most important part of the process is choosing a reputable source for your fertilized eggs. While it's good to remember that there are no guarantees in life or chicken egg hatching, picking a seller who cares for their chickens will give you the best chance of hatching healthy chicks.
- Thermometer and Hygrometer: These tools help you monitor temperature and humidity fluctuations.
- Egg Turner (optional): This isn’t necessary, but it’s convenient in a pinch and easy to save time. These automated machines mimic the natural timing and motion of a brooding hen rotating her eggs in a nest. Without one of these devices, you’ll need to turn your eggs by hand multiple times daily.
- Brooder: A heat lamp is your key warming element, helping keep your fertilized eggs at a steady, optimized temperature.
- Chick Starter Feed: Hungry babies need high-quality starter feed from Kalmbach, which has all the nutrients baby chicks need in the right amounts.
- Water Dispenser: Pick a quality water dispenser for baby chicks. Hydration is vital for chick health; they must have easy access to fresh, cool water 24/7.
Preparing Your Incubation Room
An incubation room is where you incubate your eggs. It must maintain a steady temperature and humidity level while being scrupulously clean. Here are tips for getting your incubation room ready.
- Location, location, location: Pick a room where you can control the light, temperature, and humidity levels. Consider how the temperature changes in a room over 24 hours, influenced by your climate control, windows, and time of day. Place the incubator away from windows, air vents, or doors.
- Cleanliness: Clean your incubation room thoroughly before, during, and after incubation.
- Temperature: Keep your incubation room between 70-75°F to help the incubator keep a steady temperature.
How To Incubate Eggs
When you start the incubation process, follow the instructions on your equipment. Here is our step-by-step process for incubating chicken eggs.
- Step 1: Set up your incubator
- Preheat your incubator to 99.5°F and set the humidity to 50-55% before you add your fertilized eggs to the machine. When the incubator has reached optimum temperature and humidity levels….don’t add your eggs for a few hours. Let the incubator stabilize for at least 3 hours first.
- Step 2: Add the eggs to the incubator
- Gently place the eggs’ narrow, pointy side down in the incubator. If you don’t have an automatic egg turner, turn the eggs 3-5 times daily. This keeps your little embryos from attaching to their shells.
- Step 3: Monitor Temperature and Humidity
- Check the temperature and humidity levels in your incubator regularly. For the first 18 days, keep the temperature at 99.5°F and humidity at 50-55%.
- Step 4: Candling
- This is a fun part of hatching chickens-checking their growth with a candle or other light. You’ll be able to see your chickens grow and find any eggs that aren’t viable.
- Step 5: Prepare for Hatching
- On day 18, egg rotation can cease. Raise the humidity to 65-70% for the remainder of the incubation period, called the lockdown stage. Don’t worry; your chicks are arranging themselves for hatching.
How Long Does it Take Chicks to Hatch?
Typically, chicken eggs incubate for 21 days. Young chicks start to poke through their shells around day 20 and fully emerge the next day. This timeline varies, of course, due to variations in temperature, humidity, etc. Once started, hatching can last 24 hours.
Chicken Hatching Timeline
Here is a chicken-hatching timeline to help you plan out a successful hatching.
- Early Embryo Development: Days 1-7 are when your chick starts growing all their essential organs. Stable temperature and humidity levels are crucial during this stage of development.
- Mid-Stage Development: From days 8 to 14, your chickens grow steadily and look more like chicks. Get a candle and check for yourself!
- Final Development Stage: Days 15-18 are the final days of your chicks’ growth and development; bones, feathers, limbs, and organs are given their final touches. Don’t turn your eggs on day 15 and after.
- Hatching: Days 19-21 are when hatching usually begins! You’ll start hearing tiny cheeps from your almost hatchlings; resist the temptation to handle the eggs or break them open as the hatchlings slowly break out of their eggs.
- Hatchling Care: Move it carefully to the brooder after a chick has hatched. Set the heat lamp to 95°F (35°C). Slowly lower the temperature by 5 degrees each week until your hatchlings are entirely feathered.
