incubation time: hen vs incubator?

[djdavis]

Hello Chicken Friends,

I have had chickens for about 7 years, now, and have had only one broody hen, a Welsummer (Begonia). She is a very faithful setter. In theory, she should be able to easily handle 8 to 10 eggs, but I have found that in the past, only 5 or 6 stay under her, reliably.

Two years ago, she was setting on 6 eggs, and a friend gave me 6 more fertile eggs, which I put into an incubator a few days after Begonia began setting. She successfully hatched 3 eggs, and 5 days later three of the eggs in the incubator hatched, as well.

I put the younger peeps under her at night, and she was very happy to raise them all!

BUT I failed to keep good records, and am wondering if anyone knows if an incubator happens to hatch eggs any faster or slower than a hen does? I am doing this again: 5 eggs under Begonia, and 7 eggs in the incubator, and would like to time it so they hatch at about the same time. I fear it would be awkward if the incubator eggs hatched first. If I put them under her she would probably quit setting on the ones she had been working on!

It seems to me that the incubator took a bit longer, but can't recall for sure. These are Black Copper Marans eggs. I do recall that they took a bit longer than eggs are "supposed" to take; maybe 22 - 23 days to hatch.

Has anyone done a comparison?

Thank you,
Donna

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Barring the many other possible variables, an incubator will hatch sooner if the temps are over 99.5 throughout. The incubator will be slower if the temps are under 99.5F.
The issue is that controls and thermometers are notorious for being incorrect. People think the temps are right - but in all likelihood, they aren't.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

My Sebright x Old English Game Bantam pullet hatched all her chicks out on day 19 and day 20. It was such an awesome surprise that the chicks hatched early.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Hens can reliably incubate 15 or more of her own eggs or eggs the size that this hen normally lays.
There are issues with the viability or fertility if you are sitting 6 eggs and only getting 3 live chicks or 50% living birds.
Hens can and do sometimes allow eggs to cool off to maintain viability. This is mostly true in the depths of Summer.

Chicken eggs hatch just as fast in an incubator as they do under the old setting hen. You can just hatch 1,000s of eggs at a time in the largest incubators while a hen can only hatch a dozen or two at a time and this only if she is in the mood. I have used mechanical hens to hatch eggs and I have hatched chicks the old fashion way. Both ways have advantages and disadvantages.

 

[djdavis]

I am answering my own question! I found my calendar from 2016, and it was exactly 21 days for the eggs under the hen to hatch - but well into the 22nd day (about 30 hours later) for the incubator eggs. So for THOSE eggs, in THIS incubator (a Genesis Hovabator with an automatic egg turner) it was about 30 hours longer for the incubator than for the hen. I am still going to wait one day to put the eggs into the incubator to be sure the hen's eggs are hatched before I put incubator peeps under her!

And, per my calendar, the incubator peeps were placed under the hen EIGHT DAYS after her own had hatched, and it was still not a problem.

Just in case this helps someone else...

Donna

 

[djdavis]

Hens can reliably incubate 15 or more of her own eggs or eggs the size that this hen normally lays.
There are issues with the viability or fertility if you are sitting 6 eggs and only getting 3 live chicks or 50% living birds.
Hens can and do sometimes allow eggs to cool off to maintain viability. This is mostly true in the depths of Summer.

Chicken eggs hatch just as fast in an incubator as they do under the old setting hen. You can just hatch 1,000s of eggs at a time in the largest incubators while a hen can only hatch a dozen or two at a time and this only if she is in the mood. I have used mechanical hens to hatch eggs and I have hatched chicks the old fashion way. Both ways have advantages and disadvantages.

Thank you for your speedy response! There may indeed be viability or fertility issues with my friend's eggs. Also, those eggs had some very hard shells, so one wonders if some peeps just could not get out? See my own answer, below.

I had put 6 eggs in a nest for her today, and she was only covering 5 of those right at the beginning, AND after I checked on her in an hour. So I added that uncovered egg to my batch intended for the incubator, just to be on the safe side. Maybe it is a problem with the shape of the nest that she does not seem to cover very many well? She is in a basket that does have a bit of a flat spot on the bottom, and sides that curve upward from that.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I am answering my own question! I found my calendar from 2016, and it was exactly 21 days for the eggs under the hen to hatch - but well into the 22nd day (about 30 hours later) for the incubator eggs. So for THOSE eggs, in THIS incubator (a Genesis Hovabator with an automatic egg turner) it was about 30 hours longer for the incubator than for the hen. I am still going to wait one day to put the eggs into the incubator to be sure the hen's eggs are hatched before I put incubator peeps under her!

And, per my calendar, the incubator peeps were placed under the hen EIGHT DAYS after her own had hatched, and it was still not a problem.

Just in case this helps someone else...

Donna

Since there was a 30 hour disparity between the two batches, I would run the incubator a full degree Fahrenheit higher next time.

Thank you for your speedy response! There may indeed be viability or fertility issues with my friend's eggs. Also, those eggs had some very hard shells, so one wonders if some peeps just could not get out? See my own answer, below.

I had put 6 eggs in a nest for her today, and she was only covering 5 of those right at the beginning, AND after I checked on her in an hour. So I added that uncovered egg to my batch intended for the incubator, just to be on the safe side. Maybe it is a problem with the shape of the nest that she does not seem to cover very many well? She is in a basket that does have a bit of a flat spot on the bottom, and sides that curve upward from that.

If the hens' nutrition was optimal and the eggs fertile, the embryos would likely be vigorous to break out of the egg. Did you eggtopsy those that didn't hatch?
When I have a hen sitting on eggs but isn't covering them all, I blame the nest configuration. I find the base to be too flat so I put a structure around it to create more of a shallow basin.