egg hatching guide

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Incubators

There are many incubators out there, but not all are built alike. If you plan on hatching many chicks or rare/expensive eggs, I'd recommend investing in a high-quality brand with good ratings such as Brinseas, Rcoms, GQFs, Ova-Easy, etc. The incubators currently used for our poultry are:

Brinsea Ovation 28 EX (max. 28 chicken eggs)
- Pros: Most accurate and hands-free, best automation options, "set it and forget it", highly prefer the stand-up/tilt incubators vs. laid down/rolled for shipped eggs, well-circulated air
- Cons: Cover is difficult to clean, evaporations blocks don't last long and need to be replaced (we just substitute with paper towels), not the easiest to see inside, lifting lid may cause rotation bar to move as rotator motor and sprocket teeth are on lid, getting the tiny water hose on the connector takes some patience
MATICOOPX 30 Egg Incubator (max. 30 chicken eggs)
- Pros: Higher max. egg-quantity for the price, a "budget Brinsea", like that the egg turner is controlled from the base rather than lid so egg rotation isn't effected when opening, highly prefer the stand-up/tilt incubators vs. laid down/rolling, well-circulated air
- Cons: Thermometer and hygrometer were off, takes awhile for it to get up to temp if opened
Nurture Right 360 (max. 22 chicken eggs)
- Pros: Clear viewing, easy set up, temps may be off but calibration instructions are available, circulated air
- Cons: Bottom is difficult to clean, wish it held more eggs for the price, inconsistent temps, eggs in outside slots get better rotation than eggs in inner slots

Secondary Devices, Calibration, Temperature & Humidity

I would highly recommend getting secondary devices (thermometer and hygrometer) to keep inside the incubator. Even right out of packaging, new incubators can still be off on temperature and humidity settings. You should also calibrate these secondary devices to make sure they are accurate.

Temperature range: 99.5-100.5°F

Keep your temps consistent and stable.
Avoid opening the lid excessively and make sure the cover is set properly in the base
Some people like to wrap a towel or blanket around the incubator to help keep temps stable - just be sure not to cover ventilation holes

Humidity: varies during different stages of incubation

This is a grey area which people may vary for people based on their results. For the sake of ease, 45-50% is a good target.
Fluctuations can happen so no need to panic, just add or remove water to restabilize
- "Dry" hatching: A type of hatching where people do not add water to the incubator. I don't like this term because there may be a time you do need to add water. At that point, it's no longer dry hatching. Consider your environment - is the air very humid or dry? People who live in more humid climates may get by with dry hatching due to the naturally higher humidity, whereas other areas may have drier air. But keep in mind, you don't want too much water evaporating out of the egg too fast.

Incubator Placement:

Keep your incubator away from windows, out of direct sunlight, and away from drafty areas. Ours are kept on a tabletop surface in a temperature-controlled room with incoming and outgoing ventilation to allow for even, adequate air exchange.

Where to buy hatching eggs

Facebook: FB has many egg and chicken-based groups you can join. Many small business farmsteads, homesteads, and hobby farms can be found here with more rare, unique, and high quality birds.
The Flock Directory (clickable link): A collaborative site with many smaller breeders with both well-known and specialty breeds.
Google: If you're searching for something in particular, put the breed/egg color/etc. and 'hatching eggs' in parentheses to yield better results: "Welsummer hatching eggs" or"blue hatching eggs".
Large Hatcheries: Several of the larger, commercial hatcheries offer eggs of select varieties.
eBay or Etsy: There are several places on these platforms that sell hatching eggs. Just be sure to check their reviews for feedback. While not everyone is going to have a perfect experience, if they're in the 90%+ rating, chances are they are a good seller making an honest effort.
Local: Check your local listings in ag stores, livestock sales, or Craigslist.

Shipped vs. Local hatching eggs

If possible, pick up your eggs locally if the breeder offers this service. This will allow you to control handling and temperature until they get to your incubator which should, in turn, help with better hatch rates. Most NPIP facilities will not allow you on-site for bio-security reasons, so you may need to make an exchange off-site from the location.
However, many people do not have local access to the breeds we may want. Shipping eggs, chicks, or even older birds is the only other option.

SHIPPED & LOCAL:

Allow your eggs to adjust to room temperature. Keep them upright with the bigger, rounder end upward and pointy end down. Candle the eggs prior to look for any cracks as they may not be visible on the outside surface.
Make sure the room you are candling in is very dark, especially if you're going to be looking at very dark eggs. You can use the light on the incubator if it is has one, but we prefer either a special egg-candling flash light you can readily find online or a small LED torch with a focus beam.
We do not attempt to hatch eggs with hairline cracks as they can go foul and explode in the incubator.
1. Some people may try to repair a cracked egg with unscented candlewax, super glue, tape, or nail polish. This is at your discretion. We have had about 50% success rate at hatching cracked eggs.

SHIPPED (LOCAL MAY APPLY):

It's advised you do not rotate shipped eggs for the first 3 days as there is some risk with the air cells becoming detached during shipment. This isn't always obvious, especially on darker eggs. You can check for this by candling the egg and rotating it around to see if the air bubble inside moves around as you rotate. If it does, you have a detached air cell. We use egg carton cut-outs (in a 4 square "quad"), with the sides trimmed down and a hole punched in the bottom to keep our eggs upright during this time. Again, bigger end up, pointy end down.
1. Some people allow shipped eggs to rest outside of the incubator for 24-48 hours, regardless if air cells are detached or not. Personally, I don't do this. My eggs are usually held at the post office most of the day. During this time, they are resting indoors on a table and stabilizing from approximately 6 AM to 4 pm which is usually when I pick them up after work. The eggs continue to age and are usually several days old by the time they get to me and the chance of hatching success drops significantly after day 7, even more so after day 10. So, we prefer to get them in the incubator as soon as possible as long as they are room temperature and the air cells are intact. I honestly can't say I've seen a difference. This is just my preference.
After these 3 days, we'll check eggs again. If air cells reattached, we will set them to rotate. If not or if only some have, we will rotate by hand until at least day 10 or 14 - whenever eggs are re-candled. Otherwise, if everything looks good, eggs should be placed in the incubator cradles or rotating disc to begin incubation.

Preparing for Incubation

Make sure your incubator is clean. Even if it's brand new, I like to take a paper towel and do a wipe down of all the non-electrical inside components with a low concentration bleach or vinegar-based cleaning spray. I'll do a quick wash of the egg-contact surfaces (screens, cradles, rotating disks, etc.) with a mild, non-abrasive antibacterial soap and lukewarm water and left to air dry. I do not recommend using hot water as it may warp plastic parts.
1. Always test a small, insignificant area prior to use to ensure the cleaner doesn't damage any important parts of the incubator.
2. Be careful not to get your motor or electrical equipment wet. While it may dry, parts may begin to rust or corrode. Over time, this could shorten the life of your incubator, cause malfunctions, or for it to not work completely.
Once cleaned, set up your incubator and allow it to warm up for at least 12-24 hours. This will help dry out any remaining areas as well as verify you didn't damage or loosen anything during cleaning. Place in a calibrated secondary thermometer and hygrometer, close the lid, and give it approximately 1 hour (or longer) for the temp to reach the set point and the thermometer to read the temp. If you have automatic rotation, you may want to run a couple of checks to make sure that function is working correctly as well.
1. If your incubator and thermometer are off, adjust the incubator setting temp up or down respective to what the secondary thermometer reads.
2. Finding your proper humidity may depend on your climate and/or the time of year. To keep it simple, target for a humidity between 40%-50%. Add water in small portions, giving the incubator a several minutes to stabilize after the water has been added. Compare the incubator reading and secondary hygrometer and adjust if needed to get the desired humidity level. The drier the air, the higher the evaporation. Conversely, if too humid, the lower the evaporation. Too much water left in the shell at hatch time and the chick may drown, too much and the chick many not be able to internally pip or unzip externally.
  1. Darker colored hatching eggs may require a lower humidity. The darker the egg, the thicker the shell due to 'layers' of color being applied which is known as protoporphyrin IX. This color also tends to cover more holes in the eggshell, thus compromising the ability for moisture to evaporate outside of the egg. I opt to use between 30-30% humidity for my darkest olives and Marans.
After you've determined your temperature and humidity settings, your incubator should be good to go. A good practice is to run your incubator at least a full 24-48 hours prior to adding eggs.
1. OPTIONAL: We like to take egg weights and number our eggs to keep track of how much water is being lost during incubation. More on this below.
Make sure that the eggs you are using are fairly clean. A little debris or manure is fine, but completely soiled eggs should not.
1. If the debris or manure is dry, gently try to remove it with a finger

Incubation Period: Day 0-17

Day 0:
- Carefully add your eggs to the incubator with the pointy end down if using cradles or pointy end inward if using circular rotation or however your incubator specifies.
  - Once the eggs are in, close the lid securely. Resist the urge to to open the incubator too often and for long periods of time as this may compromise your hatch. Unless you smell something funny coming from the incubator, you shouldn't need to do too much from here other than monitor temperature and humidity.
  - Prior to adding to the incubator, we use a pencil to number each of the eggs. This is to keep track of the starting weigh-in. They need to lose 11-13% of their water content during incubation. If we know the starting point, we can calculate how much water is being lost per day at next check-in
Halfway: Candling and Weigh-In
- Many people will candle again approximately halfway through. Each egg is candled first, then weighed if still developing. Undeveloped eggs are removed as they are candled and are not weighed. We prefer to candle/weigh on Day 14.
  - Because we usually have darker eggs in the incubator (Marans), we like to give the developing embryo the extra time to get bigger and for movement and the air cell to become more noticeable inside the egg. Dark eggs can be extremely difficult to assess so this method works best for us.
  - We don't mix darker egg colors with lighter egg colors during incubation. They are in separate incubators. This is because we run our humidity lower (30-35%) for darker eggs (medium to deep browns, dark greens, etc.) to help with the evaporation process. Lighter colored eggs (blues, whites, light browns, etc.) are kept at 40-45% humidity.
  - We may combine light & dark eggs in the "lockdown" incubator as we keep the humidity at 50-55% for all breeds.
- Once candling and weights has been done, the water loss percentage is calculated. Your eggs should be losing about 0.6-0.7% weight per day. If too much water is being lost too quickly, the humidity is increased slightly. If too slow, humidity is brought down. It doesn't need to be excessive, think about a 5-10% change. Do not make adjustments to temp. ALWAYS maintain temperature between 99.5-100.5°F.

(OPTIONAL) Weighing eggs is not necessary but very advantageous when it comes to having correct settings.

TO CALCULATE % WEIGHT LOSS/DAY:
- (Day 10-14 weight / Starting weight) x 100% = % Total weight loss
- 100 - % Total weight loss = % Change in weight
- % Change in weight / # of Days in Incubator = % Weight Loss/Day
EXAMPLE I: A hatching egg weighs 60 grams at Day 0
- At day 14, the egg is re-weighed and is at 58 grams.
- (58g / 60g) x 100% = 96% (loss of 4%)
- 4% / 14 days = - 0.28%/day
- Conclusion: The egg should be losing ~0.6%/day. At 21 days, the egg will have only lost 5.88% when it needs to be 11-13%. The humidity is too high, and we need to remove water/humidity.
EXAMPLE II: A hatching egg weighs 60 grams at Day 0
- At day 14, the egg is re-weighed and is at 55 grams.
- (55g / 60g) x 100% = 91% (loss of 9%)
- 9% / 14 days = -0.64%/day
- Conclusion: At 21 days, the egg will have lost about 13.4%. Don't change a thing - maintain your settings. This is fairly close (it doesn't need to be exact) and you're right on the mark for required moisture loss.

"Lockdown" to Hatch: Day 18 to 21, or 22, or 23..

Day 18 is considered "lock-down" day in which people make the final adjustments to the clutch prior to them hatching on day 21. At this point, eggs should no longer be rotated. Be sure to unplug or disable any rotating element. You may want to candle and weigh eggs one final time before closing the lid for the next few days.
1. We always candle at day 18 to remove any eggs that quit developing. The more you incubate, the better your eye will become at learning what is and isn't viable.
2. We hatch our eggs upright. At this point, they are put into 4-egg pulp carton cut-outs. The sides are trimmed down, and the bottom has a hole punctured through so not to obstruct hatching and allow for continued air flow around the egg.
3. When in doubt, leave the egg in unless you smell an odor coming from it. Very dark eggs are sometimes hard to tell if there's still development.
We *HIGHLY RECOMMEND* putting down a non-slip surface mat on the floor of the incubator. This will help the chicks keep their footing instead of slipping around on a moist surface. This struggle can lead to splayed legs. A non-slip drawer mat or liner used in kitchen cabinets works well.
Resist the urge to fuss around with the eggs. Peeping chicks still within the shell are synchronizing their hatch and getting into position. Not all eggs hatch on day 21. Some may hatch a little earlier or later which may indicate if your incubator settings are a tad high or low. Nature will handle what's to come, so be patient.
1. If you are candling and see what appears to be a triangular shape reflecting back, most likely accompanied by some movement, it's most likely that your chick has internally pipped into the air sac. This is known as the "internal pip". The chick should hatch within the next 24-48 hours.
When chicks begin to hatch, a small crack in the shell will begin to appear. This is the "external pip". After this initial pip, what's followed is called the "unzip" where the chick will rotate in the egg in what looks like a 'can opener' effect to continue breaking the egg. Try not to interfere. This can be a tiring process for a chick, and it can take a few minutes to several hours to complete. Just continue to monitor its progress.
1. This can be a critical time for your entire clutch. If there's several chicks that have hatched and several in process, leave the incubator closed. Chicks can spend up to 3 days inside an incubator without food/water as they are still surviving on the yolk. An open cover allows neededmoisture to escape and cause the inner membrane to dry out and stick to the chick, a problem called "shrink-wrapping".