Hatching Chicken Eggs

Letting Mother Nature (who knows how to incubate chicken eggs perfectly) do her thing is always best, but if your hens aren’t broody (wanting to sit on eggs) or if you want to maintain a precise environment for your hatching eggs, incubating them is a good option.

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. I tend to see external pipping (when the chick starts to break the egg) on day 19, but it can take up to 28 days in some cases. (Full disclosure: I’ve never personally had an egg take that long to hatch but it reportedly happens on occasion).

Maintain a temperature between 100°-102° with a still air incubator

Your goal is to keep the temperature inside the egg as close to 99.5° as possible. Since you can’t actually take the temperature inside the egg, the best you can do is maintain a slightly higher temp outside the egg.

Keep your humidity between 40-50% days 1-18, then increase to 50%-60% on days 18-21.

Humidity is important, especially in the last days of incubation. If the humidity is too low, you run the chance of your chicks getting “shrink-wrapped”, and unable to break out of the egg.

Turn your eggs at least 3 times a day from days 1-18, then don’t turn them at all on days 18-21.

Turning your eggs an odd number of times each day is important for embryo development. In nature, a hen turns her eggs constantly. Don’t turn your eggs after day 18 – let the chick orient itself to break the shell and hatch. Remember the air bubble I mentioned? When the chick is being born, it “pips” (breaks) into that air bubble, then pips into the external world. To help the chick hatch, keep the incubator shut (we call this time “lockdown”) and don’t open it unless necessary.

Candle your eggs starting on day 7.

If you have darker eggs, you might have to wait until day 10, but you definitely want to candle them at some point. Candling an egg just means looking at the inside by shining a light through the egg. You should see veins and eventually a chick moving in there (which is the coolest thing ever, aside from seeing a human in the womb). If by day 10, you only see the yolk (looks like a shadow and the rest of the egg clear), then the egg either wasn’t fertile or the embryo never developed. Eggs that don’t develop need to be removed.

Once they’re born, move the chicks to the brooder.

Congrats! You made it to day 21, and now you have baby chicks. You can leave chicks in the incubator up to 3 days. When you move them to the brooder (I do it the day after they’re born, once they can stand and walk ok), make sure your brooder is at least 95° but not too hot or the chicks will overheat (you’ll know if they start panting). I usually keep mine 95° – 100°.

Newborn chicks have a harder time regulating their own temperature, so I keep a thermometer in the brooder too. I use straw in my brooder because we have it on hand.

Hatching eggs really is that easy! If all your eggs don’t hatch, don’t worry. A 80% hatch rate is normal, and if your first hatch yields a 50% hatch rate, you’re doing great! Have fun, watching the chicks grow up is a blast!

After Hatching

Week One

After baby chicks are hatched they ingest their yolk sac for up to 72 hours. This provides them with all the nourishment they need during this time. After 72 hours their yolk sacs are gone and they need food and water.

Baby chicks, less than one week old will need to be kept at a warm temperature.

Make sure they have food and shallow water along with the mother hen. They are creatures of habit and will quickly learn eating and drinking as a life skill.

Keep their bedding clean of moisture and poo.

For the first week of their life, the chicks will sleep quite a bit.

Week Two

Keep plenty of food and water available at all times for the chicks. This allows them to eat and drink when they want, and will help them to grow into healthy chickens. Keep the food free of moisture and poo.

Clean or replace the bedding material as needed.

As they grow, they have a natural desire to roost. Consider adding a perch for the chicks. You can easily create one with three small twigs, placing them in the shape of an ‘H’.

Interact with the chicks. This will help them to become familiar with you and learn to trust you.

Week Three

Clean or replace the bedding material as needed.

As the chicks grow, so may your brooder. Switch to a larger container if it looks like the chicks are crowded.

Lots more feathers start to appear on the chicks.

Week Four

Continue to keep food and water available to the chicks at all times. Keep the food clean from moisture and poo. Change the water as needed.

Clean or replace the bedding as needed.

Week Five

Adult feathers start to appear on the chicks.

As you finish the starter feed, you can begin mixing it with some finishing food. Once the starter feed is gone, they should be eating finishing food. Continue to give them plenty of food and water to help them mature.

Clean or replace the bedding as needed.

Add another perch if necessary.

Week Six

Chickens love lettuce and fresh fruits.

It's time to release the chicks to live with the rest of the brood. You can allow them to free range during the day. They should come back to the coop around the same time nightly. Chickens are creatures of habit.

Week Seven through Week Fifteen

Now that the chickens are living outside, they will be scratching around on the ground and eating delicacies like worms, insects and grass. Feed them finishing food at least twice a day to help them continue growing. Also, continue to feed them kitchen scraps. Give them fresh water daily.

They will know you and trust you. They will know their daily routine. Let nature take its course and enjoy watching your flock of chickens flourish.

Week Sixteen

As the chickens are completing the finishing food, begin mixing it with layer feed. Once the finishing food is gone, they will be on layer food from here on out. Feed them twice a day (morning and afternoon). Change their water daily or as needed, making sure they always have water available.

Week Twenty

Around this time they should be laying eggs. The first time you hear the egg laying song, you will smile and maybe even laugh. Enjoy your farm fresh eggs and your chickens!

Some fun chicken sounds:

https://www.soundsnap.com/tags/chicken