Incubating Newbie

[mschicklady]

Hello! I would love for someone to be able to give me a step by step guide to incubating eggs or a link. When I say step by step I mean what to do from the time the hen lays the egg to the time they hatch. Everything! I have just finished building an incubator and have finally got the temp and humidity stable. I'm just not sure I am handling and storing the eggs properly while I wait for enough to fill the incubator, or should I go ahead and put them in then add to it as I get more? Just don't see how that would work when that would make the lockdown day different for them. I plan to have a chart along with numbering the eggs and marking each side. I have found plenty of information on the process of incubating from day 8 but not really any help from the very beginning up to then. Located in Louisiana if that helps any.

 

[Aacre]

Welcome to the world of incubating! It is fun! I found this in the Learning Center, you can find this by looking at the tabs at the top of the page. This particular article is called Hatching 101. It has really helped me get on my way to a great start.

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

As for storing eggs until you are ready to incubate, what I do is store the eggs in an egg carton with the big ends up. You need to do this because the big end is where you will want your future chicks to "pip" internally and externally. The air cell in the egg will normally be bigger in the big end (for kind of obvious reasons- it's the bigger part of the egg!). Anyway, once you have them placed in the carton, you can store the carton(s) in a cool place, usually around 55-60 degrees is good. Also, I practice exercising the the embryos. Each day, until incubation, I turn the eggs on their other side (at a 45 degree angle) 2-3 times a day. This is much like what you do during incubation with the egg turning aspect. Eggs can stay viable for up to a couple of weeks, after that, they are still viable, but it lessens. The fresher, the better!
I know it's possible to do a staggered hatch (where the eggs have a different hatch day), but I haven't done this personally. I think you would have to have more than one incubator to do this so that you have one for the first 17-18 days and the other incubator set up for the lockdown. Hopefully someone can chime in on this...

I hope this helps you some, if you have more specific questions, I will do what I can to help you out.

 

[happyhens1972]

If you have a homemade incubator and only one of them then DEFINITELY don't set your eggs at different times. Collect all the eggs you wish to set and then do them all at once.

To make sure you have the best eggs possible, candle them before you set them and any that look mottled, discard. Choose eggs that are uniform in shape and size and are spottlessly clean. This will give you better odds of a better hatch.

Store exactly as mentioned above, including the turning.

Set your eggs in the incubator either fat end up or laying on their sides, never with the narrower end uppermost.

Don't over candle. I personally only ever candle once at 14 days just to get rid of obvious no-hopers before hatch day but if you want to candle more often, then once at day 7 to 8 and once at day 18 before lockdown should be more than enough to establish viability.

Remember that every interaction you have with the actual eggs messes with your temperature and humidity and puts them at risk from germ transfer.

Read everything you can about incubation and hatching, especially the stuff about assisted hatches and when NOT to interfere. The hardest thing of all is to sit on your hands and trust Mother Nature to get on with her miracle without you!!!

Best of luck xxx

 

[mschicklady]

Thank you both so much!! Y'all have providing me with the exact information i was looking for. As for the hatching 101 I have read it about 4 times already and have taken screen shots of the parts I found I would need to refer to later. I was just looking for the information in between the lines that wasn't necessarily included. I think most of my questions are answered now. Thanks again!!!

 

[happyhens1972]

You are most welcome! And if you have any specific questions, just ask away. We all had to start somewhere so no question is a stupid question

 

[mschicklady]

I would rather ask and sound stupid than I would not ask and end up harming my livestock. I do have a question about humidity though. What does everyone normally try to keep the humidity set at for the first couple weeks? I know it's lower than lockdown, which is 60-70% right? Right now my incubator is holding around 27% and some say that is fine others say it is too low. Opinions?

 

[Lizz9311]

I would rather ask and sound stupid than I would not ask and end up harming my livestock. I do have a question about humidity though. What does everyone normally try to keep the humidity set at for the first couple weeks? I know it's lower than lockdown, which is 60-70% right? Right now my incubator is holding around 27% and some say that is fine others say it is too low. Opinions?

From what I have gathered, it depends on whether you are dry hatching or not. I don't know the dry hatch technique, but if you are not planning a dry hatch it should be 50-55% humidity.

 

[Aacre]

I dry hatch. During incubation, I keep mine between 30-40%. On lock down, I raise it so that it's in the 50's but not higher than 65%.

 

[mschicklady]

Thanks everyone. I guess now I will have to decide on whether to dry hatch or not. Any pros and cons y'all know of to each?