My first time hatching eggs...

[PaleoDan]

So last spring my friend and I went to the local Agway and picked up one dozen chicks. She kept 10 and let me bring 2 home to have at my house. I built two coops, one 8x8 for her on her farm and a small one for my two hens. After it became clear my dog would not leave them in peace, we took them over to live with the rest. After some time getting used to each other, we were able to start collecting eggs!

A few weeks ago, she asked if I wanted to try hatching a few eggs to see if we could. (I should note that two of our original 12, turned out to in fact be roosters!) So...I dusted off an incubator I had built several years ago for snake eggs and we started the adventure.

We are now on day 12 of what I believe to be a 21 day cycle and things seem to be looking good. I have candled all six eggs and the five I can see through all have nice vein development. - Yesterday I saw movement in two of the eggs which was really cool!

Looking forward to any advice you can give for the actual hatching as this will be my first. I have been doing some reading but would love some "real world" knowledge.

Thanks

Dan

 

[wlbaker3]

I'll be interested to read advice too, as I'm just about to start incubating some eggs for the first time. I think my kids will really get a kick out of it.

 

[sumi]

Most of the time the chicks hatch out fine, provided you kept the temp and humidity correct. Just be warned: chicks can take 24 hours or more to complete a hatch, so don't worry if it looks like they're not going to make it out! Here's a very good article on incubating and another one on assisted hatching that explains what's going on in the egg during that last stretch:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/step-by-step-guide-to-assisted-hatching

Good luck with your hatch!

 

[PaleoDan]

Thank you for the information and the links. I'll read through.

Regards

Dan

 

[Sally Sunshine]

oh Dan!! What luck with those roos!! LOL I can only imagine!! See the articles Sumi posted and I highly suggest dry incubation methods and it will explain WHY in the articles....

questions just ask! Good Luck with your hatch!!