21/08/2023
Spring is around the corner, it seems timely to talk about chicken egg incubating and what is involved.
Prepare your incubator a few days prior to loading it. Wash with a 10% bleach solution followed by warm soapy water and thoroughly rinse to ensure that you are starting with a sanitized environment. Once the incubator is clean and dry, turn it on to check that constant temperature and humidity levels are maintained. Check with a separate thermometer to check for accuracy before loading the incubator. It is also advisable to have the incubator in a draft-free area. As temperature and humidity are critical factors for successful hatching, the incubator should have a steady temperature of 37.5 C. During the first 17 days of incubation, your humidity should be 45-55 and on days 18-21 which is lockdown, the humidity should be increased to 65-75. Your humidity levels can be adjusted with your water levels. Once the incubator has been set up and you have made sure that your temperature and humidity levels are accurate you are ready to load your fertile eggs. Load the egg's pointy end down and blunt end up as the blunt end is where the air sac is for the chick to breathe whilst pipping. When you first load your incubator the first 24 hours are day 0. Now, if you have a manual incubator you will need to manually turn the eggs at least 3 times a day. In nature, the mother hen can turn eggs as much as 50 times a day. The turning of the eggs is to prevent the embryo from attaching itself to the sides of the egg. It is advisable to wash your hands before handling the eggs to stop the transfer of skin oils and germs onto the developing chick.
Around days 7-10the eggs can be candled to ascertain their viability. Candling is the act of shining a light through the egg. Try not to have the egg out of the incubator no longer than 5-10 minutes as that may affect the internal temperature of the egg. If you notice a cracked or leaking egg remove them as they are not likely to be viable. If the inside of the egg is clear and free from visible structures or dark areas the egg is infertile or the embryo has died early. Please remove this egg from the incubator. If a ring of red is visible, it means at some point t there was an embryo but it has died. Remove this egg also. If you see blood vessels within the egg, there is a live embryo inside. Blood vessels on chicken eggs are normally seen within 7-10 of incubation. By day 18 the embryo inside of the egg takes up most of the space. After candling, return the eggs back inside the incubator and return to the day 1-18 schedule.
By day 18, the embryo had developed into a chic and will take up most of the space within the egg. The chick is preparing to hatch. Stop turning the eggs at day 18 and make sure the temperature and humidity are correct as previously discussed. Chicks will typically hatch at day 21 but can start as early
as day 19. If you are at day 21 and no chicks have hatched, give the eggs a few more days as temperature and humidity can cause late and early hatching, as can outside temperatures can also affect hatching. Please leave the newly hatched chicks in the incubator until they are all dry. Do not open the door during hatching as the drop in humidity levels from opening the door can shrink-wrap the pipping chick. That means that the moist membrane inside of the eggs dries out and shrinks around the chick preventing it from moving and hatching successfully. Please leave the chicks to hatch on their own.
Remember that roughly 50% of the chicks will be cockerels so make sure that you have plans in place to rehome them. If you do decide to keep a cockerel, the ratio of hens to a rooster is 10-12 hens to one rooster. If you have fewer hens you stand a chance of overbreeding and the hens being injured.
Happy hatching!
Kristie Hannan
