Keeping chickens at home for eggs
Part 2 - How to hatch eggs
Wed, 06/17/2009 - 11:46 | admin
How to Hatch Eggs
In part two of this basic course in chicken keeping will be looking at hatching eggs. In the world of chicken keeping, there can be few more satisfying achievements then hatching and rearing your own chicks. If you have young children it can also be a delightful educational experience also.
Eggs hatch in approximately 21 days. They can be a few days either side of this but a good benchmark is 21 days. You will tend to hatch your eggs in an incubator. Before the eggs go in the the incubator make sure that it has been running for at least one day and maintaining a steady temperature of 99.5°. Both temperature and humidity are important factors to control if you want to be successful in hatching your own eggs. Most incubator is on the market will include a thermometer but possibly not a device for measuring humidity. You will need to buy a hygrometer
The humidity within the incubator will need to vary at different times of the incubation process. From day 1 to day 18, the humidity need to be 50%. After this time and until the eggs are hatched you should raise the humidity to between 70 and 80%.
During incubation their eggs must be turned at least three times per day, this is essential. Some incubators on the market will turn the eggs automatically. For other products it is a manual task. If your incubator does not automatically turn the eggs then you have to set about this task yourself. A good technique is to mark the eggs in such a way that you can tell which side the egg has been resting on and then turn it appropriately.
To control the humidity levels you can place shallow water containers in the incubator. Read the instructions that come with your product for guidance in this matter.
Once the eggs are in the incubator they must be left in a quiet and stable location. It is good practice to keep them on a solid floor and off wooden floorboards as the vibration from the floorboards can damage the embryos. Your success rate in hatching chicks may vary as there are several factors that will influence the success rate. Not all the eggs may be fertile, indeed it is rare to get 100% fertility in chicken eggs. The temperature and humidity they be incorrect resulting in failure to hatch and the incubator may be disturbed during incubation process which again may cause the success rate to drop.
The candling process
You cannot tell whether your eggs are fertile until you've started incubating them. After a few days however you will be able to candle the eggs to see if the embryo within it has developed. This candling test will be something that you do to check for normal development within the eggs. You will also want to be removing cracked and damaged eggs which themselves will not hatch.
The candling process can be performed using a lightbulb and a box or can. What you need to do is make a hole in the box just smaller than the diameter of the egg, then place that in front of a light source. Next place the egg over the hole and look through the egg to see if a cloudy mass can be seen. If you can, then you can assume there is a growing embryo and that the egg will be fertile. By judging how the light flows through the egg and the uniformity of the light you will be up to determine whether there is an embryo present or not.
You can start candling your eggs after the first three days. If after seven days you do not detect any embryo then you can be sure that either the egg was never fertile in the first place or that it has died. In this case the eggs should be removed.
The air bubble within an egg.
Within each egg there is a small air bubble located at the wide end of the shell. A membrane separates the mass of the egg from this air bubble. This air bubble will grow and shrink depending upon the environment outside the egg. Its size within the egg will fluctuate with varying temperature and humidity outside. This is nature's way of compensating for its environment.
If the temperature outside is high then the mass of the egg will shrink causing the air bubble to grow. The reverse effect will occur if the temperature is too low. It's important to keep the environment within a small temperature and humidity band as possible as their is only so much compensation that can be catered for.
The effects of and humidity are probably more pronounced during the later stages of incubation. When the baby chick is trying to break out of its egg, it will break through the air membrane first. If this membrane is too large this may have caused the mass of the egg to have shrunk to such a degree that the bird did not develop properly in the first place. In this case the baby chick may be too weak or feeble to break through the shell.
On the other hand if the air sac is very small then the chick will be more at risk from attempting to break through an area which is not next to the membrane. Breaking through part of the shell that is not adjacent to the air sac can cause the chick to drown.
Turning
As we mentioned earlier you will need to turn the eggs at least three times per day. This turning process is essential for the correct development of the chick. Turning however must be stopped in the last three days of the incubation process. This is to allow the chick to hatch. Turning is a natural process that the mother hen would have performed and helps prevent the embryo from sticking to any side of the shell membrane.
Temperature
Eggs adjust to the temperature of their environment. However as the embryo develops, it will generate heat of its own. You should try to maintain the temperature at 99.5° as chicks are very susceptible to variation in this temperature.
After hatching
You should find that the eggs with all hatch within one or two days of each other. Do not be tempted to take the newly hatched chicks out of the incubator too soon. This interference can harm the other chicks as it will cause immediate variation in the temperature and humidity of their environment.
The newly hatched chicks will survive happily for up to 3 days without additional food or water. The nourishment that they got from the yolk in the egg is enough to see them through this period. They will continue to grow in the incubator using this food.
You will see newly hatched chicks pecking and foraging about. Do not assume that they are doing this because they're hungry rather than it it is a natural instinct for the bird.
Feeding chicks
Once removed from the incubator you are responsible for providing food and water at all times. You should ensure a plentiful supply of water. When they are very young, the birds should be fed a dry mash. This is readily purchased on the market. Try to avoid giving them solid foods or grit.
Drowning
Drowning can be an issue for the newly hatched chicks. It is thought that they are prone to diving in to any liquid in the early stages of their life as it resembles the yolk sac from which they hatched. Take care that the water that you provide for them is not a source for them to drown in. You should try to limit the depth of the water while maintaining an adequate supply. One technique is to put small pebbles or stone in the water to limit its depth.
