Incubating and hatching chicken eggs is an incredibly rewarding experience. There’s something magical about watching a tiny chick emerge from its egg after 21 days of careful tending. With the right setup and techniques, you can successfully hatch healthy chicks at home. Here’s a comprehensive 21-day guide to incubating chicken eggs.
Selecting and Storing Eggs
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Choose clean, oval-shaped eggs free of cracks or flaws. Avoid extra large or small eggs.
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Fertile eggs should be incubated within 7-10 days of being laid. Store at 55-65°F, small end down, and turn daily.
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Let shipped eggs rest 24 hrs before setting Store upright with air cell up.
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Don’t wash eggs before incubating, The “bloom” protects against bacteria
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Expect 50-75% of fertile eggs to hatch. Shipping reduces hatch rate to ~50%.
Setting Up the Incubator
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Ensure temperature is steady at 99.5-100°F (forced air) or 101-102°F (still air).
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Maintain humidity at 45-55% for days 1-18. It will rise naturally late in incubation.
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Allow fresh air exchange 4+ times daily (still air incubators). Eggshells are porous.
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Use a hygrometer to monitor temperature and humidity.
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Let eggs come to room temp before setting to prevent cracking.
Incubating (Days 1-18)
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Mark eggs with X on one side, O on the other to track turning.
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Turn eggs at least 3 times daily for the first 18 days. Prevent embryos from sticking.
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Candle at day 5-7 to check for fertility and development. Discard clears after day 10.
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Monitor air cell size and position. Should be small early and get progressively larger.
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Keep eggs large end up or horizontal. Never incubate with small end elevated.
Lockdown (Days 19-21)
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Stop turning eggs on day 18 and increase humidity to 65-75%.
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Resist opening the incubator. Chicks need stable conditions to hatch.
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First external pips typically occur on day 20-21. Hatching takes 12-24+ hrs after.
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Allow chicks 24 hrs to fully dry and fluff before removing from incubator.
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Discard unhatched eggs after day 25. Do not assist hatches unless critical.
Brooding Chicks After Hatching
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Move chicks to a prepared brooder with food, water, heat source, bedding.
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Use medicated chick starter for immunity. Provide marbles in water to prevent drowning.
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Maintain brooder at 90-95°F for the first week, lowering by 5°F each week.
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Observe chicks closely. Adjust conditions to keep them comfortable and thriving.
Troubleshooting Common Incubation Issues
No pips on day 21 – Be patient. Wait 24-48 hrs before assisting. The hatch process is delicate.
Pips without progression – Increase humidity slightly. Chicks may be stuck to membrane.
Early pips or embryos – Temperature too high. Lower it incrementally back to normal range.
Late pips – Temperature too low. Raise it slowly to recommended levels.
Misaligned/malformed embryos – Eggs not turned properly. Ensure all get rotated.
Blood rings – Incubation issues like temperature swings. Hatch not likely to succeed.
Dead chicks – Review conditions. Common causes are incorrect temp/humidity, poor turning.
Incubating chicken eggs is a 21-day commitment that requires close attention to details like temperature, humidity, ventilation, egg turning, and hatching conditions. Follow these guidelines and you’ll be rewarded with a high hatch rate and healthy chicks. With each hatch you’ll gain experience and improve your techniques.
Lockdown – Step 4
On day 19, we want to increase the humidity so that the chicks can hatch out of the eggs and not get shrink-wrapped in their shells. Follow your incubator’s instructions for adding water to increase the humidity to 70%. Remove the automatic egg turner and if you like, put in some clean and sanitized rubber shelf liner to help your chicks have a grip and walk around.
Next, check the incubator
I start mine at least a day before I’m going to put in my eggs. I want to check that the incubator is holding temperatures and humidity, that the automatic turner is working, there are no unexpected leaks.
I put my 2 backup probes inside to check the readings and adjust the settings on the incubator to make sure the temperature is 100F. It is really important that the temperature stays within the 99-102F range for chicken eggs, too high or too low and it could kill the developing chicks inside the egg.
After testing, I sanitize the incubator inside and out, and the probes. I want everything clean because eggs are porous and can easily be contaminated by bacteria. So clean and sanitize according to the instructions that come with your incubator. Sanitizing is the last step. I clean with hot soapy water, rinse, dry, then sanitize and let the sanitizer air dry but check with what your incubator says for cleaning and sanitizing instructions.
Incubating Chickens is SUPER Easy!
FAQ
How to incubate chicken eggs for beginners?
When it comes down to it, incubating chicken eggs is where you place fertilized eggs into an incubator for 21 days. The temperature is kept between 99-102F. You need to turn the eggs at least 3 times a day for 18 days. On day 19 you stop turning your eggs this is called lockdown and chicks will hatch on day 21.
How long after a chicken lays an egg can you incubate?
Can you incubate chicken eggs without an incubator?
Yes… as long as there’s a heat source keeping it at roughly 95.5 degrees for 21 days. For instance some people have had success with a lightbulb and a box, historically kilns were used before modern incubators, and today whole rooms can be kept at the right temp to hatch many hundreds of eggs within them.
Should my incubator be in the dark?
Overall, the related literature review shows that lighting during incubation is not crucial as other incubation factors do. Therefore, under commercial conditions, embryos are incubated in the dark.
How to incubate chicken eggs?
Fertilized chicken eggs were incubated in a humidified incubator at 37.6 °C for 4 days and then two small holes were bored in the eggshell at the lateral and the blunt end.
How long does it take a chicken egg to incubate?
It usually takes 21 days for a chicken egg to fully incubate. A day is the full 24 hours after you put the egg in the incubator, so I write the next day’s date on the egg to remind myself what day I started incubating. So, if I put eggs in the incubator on January 18, I write 1/19 on the egg.
How do you put eggs in an incubator?
Place the container in the incubator. Close the lid on the container containing the eggs. Then, place the container in the incubator. Write down the date of when the eggs were laid and placed in the incubator, calculate when they should hatch, and mark it on your calendar. Monitor the temperature.