Chicks hatching earlier than expected

[Black Pirate]

Hey everyone, I've been hatching chicken eggs for some time and I've noticed that almost none of my eggs hatch at the 21 day mark. Most of them hatch at day 20 and some also hatch at day 19. I find this very weird honestly. Should I have any concerns?

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Hey everyone, I've been hatching chicken eggs for some time and I've noticed that almost none of my eggs hatch at the 21 day mark. Most of them hatch at day 20 and some also hatch at day 19. I find this very weird honestly. Should I have any concerns?

Could be you are running your incubator a bit hot. This sometimes hastens the development. Also depends on the breed sometimes. Most of my chicks hatch on day 20.

 

[MysteryChicken]

Hey everyone, I've been hatching chicken eggs for some time and I've noticed that almost none of my eggs hatch at the 21 day mark. Most of them hatch at day 20 and some also hatch at day 19. I find this very weird honestly. Should I have any concerns?

I've experienced this both in an incubator, & under broody hens.

I've had chicks hatch later in an incubator, & under a broody hen too.

 

[HeatherKellyB]

Do you keep a separate calibrated thermometer in the incubator during incubation? Higher temps will cause early hatches. I have had an entire clutch hatch early due to temp spikes in one of my incubators. Like mentioned above, some breeds will hatch earlier. One last thing, are you counting the days yourself or going by the counter on the incubator?

Hatching is so much fun

 

[Cazook]

depending on the breed hatch times can be different. bantams often come out at day 18-19. or could be high incubator temp.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

Hey everyone, I've been hatching chicken eggs for some time and I've noticed that almost none of my eggs hatch at the 21 day mark. Most of them hatch at day 20 and some also hatch at day 19. I find this very weird honestly. Should I have any concerns?

I've used the nature right 360 and most started hatching, or completely hatched on day 20. I've had the same happen under a broody hen.

 

[wolfwalker]

21 days is an average across the breeds. That said, the big hatcheries set eggs for a Monday hatch date starting as early as Saturday night and go through Tuesday morning for a Monday hatch. Over the years they have kept track of how their breed's hatch and adjust the timing of entering the incubation cycle to get the specific day that most will have hatched on.

Here, Welsummer's start to hatch on day 19 and finish up day 20, so do my Legbars. Copper Marans seem to start pipping on day 20 and can go through day 22. Brahmas seem to hatch day 20 through day 21 for me and Alohas day 20 through 22.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

21 days is an average across the breeds. That said, the big hatcheries set eggs for a Monday hatch date starting as early as Saturday night and go through Tuesday morning for a Monday hatch. Over the years they have kept track of how their breed's hatch and adjust the timing of entering the incubation cycle to get the specific day that most will have hatched on.

Yes I read a book about ducks and a hatchery had specific times they'd set duck eggs, one breed would be at 1PM, another breed set three hours later, another 7 hours later, etc, because they had breed incubation times down to a science.

 

[Black Pirate]

Do you keep a separate calibrated thermometer in the incubator during incubation? Higher temps will cause early hatches. I have had an entire clutch hatch early due to temp spikes in one of my incubators. Like mentioned above, some breeds will hatch earlier. One last thing, are you counting the days yourself or going by the counter on the incubator?

Hatching is so much fun

I did have a humidity sensor with a built-in temperature sensor but I removed it since it wasn't giving me accurate readings. These days I often incubate a 24 egg clutch on the first day of every month so the days are counted myself(my incubator also doesn't have a counter). I've noticed my broody chickens hatching eggs earlier than expected as well. Maybe it's because I live in Pakistan and it tends to get hot in here(45+ during a bad day in the summers). Maybe that's the reason my hatches are so unexpectedly early.

 

[wolfwalker]

I did have a humidity sensor with a built-in temperature sensor but I removed it since it wasn't giving me accurate readings. These days I often incubate a 24 egg clutch on the first day of every month so the days are counted myself(my incubator also doesn't have a counter). I've noticed my broody chickens hatching eggs earlier than expected as well. Maybe it's because I live in Pakistan and it tends to get hot in here(45+ during a bad day in the summers). Maybe that's the reason my hatches are so unexpectedly early.

Yes, that would do it if the incubator was not in a climate controlled area that stayed under 37c