Some kids dream of traveling to space. Others dream of saving lives. Even more dream of becoming the next celebrity. I dreamed of taking care of animals. I recall constantly asking to adopt a dog up until middle school. How did my parents get me to shut up about that? A family friend owned a farm full of chickens and wanted even more in his flock. We took the opportunity and never looked back. However, the one condition was that they would help me if and only if I first learned how to raise chickens myself.
“Piece of cake! I already know how! Put the egg here and it’ll work! Okay, stop shaking your heads and just watch…” *crack*.
Roll credits.
Just kidding! Surprised by the feeling of having a cold, runny “accident”, I soon realized that sitting on the egg helped as much as dropping it. I obviously had a lot to learn, so I took to surfing the web, and as I write this, I’m starting to think that my parents allowing me to have chickens as pets was just an elaborate plan for them to get me to start yapping less and reading more. I guess I should also be grateful to have learned what “patience” and “responsibilities” (ew) are, but honestly, I still have no idea what those are! Anyway, I’m here to share my experience.
An overview of the entire 21-day egg incubation process can be boiled (no pun intended) down into four important factors:
1. Temperature: To start, preparing some type of incubator will make this process so much easier. The incubator that I used is similar to the one on the right, capable of reaching and being kept at our desired temperature: optimally 100 degrees Farenheit (or approximately 37.5 degrees Celsius). This temperature has an effective range of plus or minus one degree Farenheit, so don’t mess this part up.
2. Moisture: Preparations for this should be made either by using a hygrometer and water pan (preferred) or a moist paper towel. No matter what, both options will need to be adjusted during incubation in order to maintain a relative humidity level of 40%-55% for the first 18 days. 3 days before the eggs are set to hatch, raise the level to 70%-75%. Also, ventilation is key. Try to find an incubator with a healthy and proper amount of airflow in order to circulate oxygen, heat, and moisture.
3. Egg condition and turning: Have you ever seen the way that Costco cooks their rotisserie chicken in the oven? This part will never fail to remind me of that. Short tangent aside, mark each egg in a way such that it is easy to distinguish one side from the other. Turn the eggs at least three times from one side to the other each day; stop turning on day 18 or 19 because the chick will begin orienting itself into an optimal hatching position. There is no need to be more involved than turning thrice every day, but generally, more turns per day is better, but the number of turns should be odd such that the eggs don’t spend two consecutive nights on the same side. I like to start with a smiley face facing upward so that the eggs will be smiling on hatch day.
It’s also a good idea to keep track of their statuses by candling. It essentially acts like a budget ultrasound. Simply hold the egg, shine a flashlight through it, and look through in the opposite direction. Hopefully, the embryo is developing as intended (see right). This way, it becomes possible to monitor each egg’s health. “Dud” eggs without any signs of change should be removed from the incubator and disposed of one week in at the latest. Lastly, there is no need to try cleaning the eggs in any way. In fact, it could actually damage them.
4. Egg positioning: The eggs should be spaced out from each other and placed in a stable, horizontally-oriented position (on its side). This ensures safety among them, especially if an early bird inadvertently disturbs, or tampers with, the other unhatched eggs.
If all goes well, expect to hear and see movement on the 21st day (almost exactly). It will take a long time from the first pip to hatch, and it is a very tiring process, so if the chick seems unresponsive, it’s likely just resting on the job. It’s okay to give it some verbal encouragement, but avoid helping the chicks hatch at all costs.
Unfortunately, I was unable to recover images of my previous generations from when I was younger, but pictured on the right are newly hatched chicks, not to be confused with the average Monday morning college student. Sheesh! Talk about a bad feather day, buddy! Don’t worry, the chicks are only a few hours old, so the cute and fluffy phase will set in soon enough! Also notable is that not all of the eggs should be expected to hatch, for the successful hatch rate of any given clutch is generally 70% – 90%, so consider yourself lucky if all of your 5+ eggs yield healthy chicks. It’s relatively quick, and there isn’t even any medical bill nonsense to deal with later! Congrats!!
The process itself is precise but isn’t too difficult to carry out. In contrast, the growth and development of any form of life can be quite complicated to completely understand. It’s important to keep in mind that this post only briefly covers key information about egg incubation, and as expected, there are always more detailed resources to be found elsewhere regarding certain issues that could be encountered throughout the process.
As always, thanks for chickin’ this post out, and I hope you’ve learned something new. This post is solely about hatching eggs, and you may be wondering: “Now that they’re hatched, what do I do?”. Well, I’m glad you asked! Join me next time when I’ll discuss how to nurture these little nuggets (of joy)! Stay safe.
I never knew that so much that went on in the process of hatching eggs! Chickens make it look so simple, just sitting down on the eggs, but of course there is more to it than that. I’ve never heard of some of the tools you used to hatch your eggs, like the hygrometer. Do you still raise chickens? Or have you gotten any other animals other than chickens? Raising chickens must be a really interesting process. Looking forward to next week’s post.
I actually didn’t use a hygrometer. I just kind of eyeballed it. Not ideal, but oops I guess. I no longer raise chickens for reasons that I may elaborate upon in a future blog post. I have had and do have other animals that I will definitely discuss in upcoming posts, so stay tuned!
I really enjoyed reading your blog post! My dad’s family also used to raise chickens and chicks when he was younger, so I’ve heard about his many interesting experiences. But I never knew you had to take into consideration this many factors when hatching chicks from eggs. When I was younger, I wanted to raise robin chicks (one time, the parent bird abandoned the nest and I didn’t want to let the chicks die) but reading this, I probably would have killed the chicks. But it’s amazing that chickens know how to raise their chicks; it’s not like the chickens get taught by older chickens, right? Animals and their instincts always amaze me.
Hi! Yes, animals can be (sometimes scarily) amazing at times! To address chicken “teaching”, in a way, hens do teach their chicks how to expand upon already vital and instinctual skills. Hens act as mentors, and the chicks generally only need to apply, not learn. I have also had experiences with wild backyard birds before. Trust me, I think that they are less complex than chickens but can be a pain mostly if you seek to care for one. I have never hatched or raised backyard birds before, but one time I have temporarily nursed a chick back to health with much trouble after a predator attack. A mother bird will never permanently leave the nest without reason, and as you noted, I’m sure the remaining chicks would not make it. The chicks can be helpless, but ultimately, humans should not tamper with mother nature. Thanks for the comment, and look forward to the next post! 🙂