Welcome to the first post of our ‘Incubating Chicken Eggs’ series! This three post series will guide you through the process of incubating and hatching chicken eggs. It will provide you with the basic guidelines you need to know for storing fertile hatching eggs, programming an incubator, candling eggs, setting eggs, putting the incubator in lockdown, what to do during hatching time, and so much more! Incubating chicken eggs is an educational and exciting experience. It is a great way to grow your homestead flock naturally, and an essential skill to know if you plan on breeding chickens on your homestead!

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How to Incubate Chicken Eggs

This post is part of a 3 post series on how to incubate chicken eggs. This post covers the topics of incubating supplies, how to store fertile hatching, how to program an incubator, and how to weigh hatching eggs. The following posts will walk you through the next steps in the incubating process:

• Incubating Part 2- Setting and Candling
• Incubating Part 3- Lockdown and Hatching

Before you plan on getting fertile hatching eggs to incubate, you need to make sure you have all supplies necessary for incubating eggs and hatching chicks on the homestead. Here is a list of supplies you should consider investing in.

Incubating Supplies:

• Incubator– A still air or a forced draft incubator will provide the correct environment for fertile eggs to develop.
• Chick Hatcher (optional)– A chick hatcher is often used during the last 3 days of incubation for when the chicks hatch. Some folks use a seperate incubator as a hatcher, especially if they are incubating eggs that will hatch at different times.
• Candling Light– A candling light can be any bright light that will penetrate through the eggshell color for seeing into the eggs.
• Distilled Water– Distilled water is used to maintain humidity in your incubator. Using distilled water prevents minerals (tap water) or chlorine (treated city water) from buildng up in your incubator.  
• Hydrometer– A small, digital hydrometer can help you monitor humidity levels in the incubator. Try to find a version that has a prob that fits into the ventilation holes of the incubator so that you don’t have to open and close the lid to test the humidity.  
• Soft Lead Pencil– Use a soft lead pencil when marking your hatching eggs so you don’t accidentally puncture the shell.
• Egg Scale (optional)– You can use an egg scale for monitoring egg weight loss. Monitoring egg weight loss can help you get the correct humidity levels during incubation (eggs lose weight as moisture evaporates during incubation).   
• Shelf Liner– Shelf liner can be used to create a non-slip surface on the bottom of the incubator during hatch time.
• Brooder– Have a brooder prepared for after your chicks hatch! 

How to Store Fertile Hatching Eggs

Once you have all the supplies you need for incubating, it’s time to get your hatching eggs! You can aquire fertile hatching eggs from your own homestead flock (if you have a rooster), from a homestead friend, buying from a local breeder, or mail ordering hatching eggs.

Storing your fertile eggs before putting them in an incubator is an important step in the incubating process. It is similar to the way a mother hen would wait until she has enough eggs to hatch before she starts incubating them. A hen can only lay one egg a day, so it would take several days before she would start to incubate a clutch of eggs.

A fertile egg goes dormant until it has been heated consistently for a period of time. In this way, the mother hen can be sure that all her chicks will hatch around the same time. Whether you have collected your fertile eggs from a breeding flock of chickens or if you have mail ordered them, there are a few basic storing tips to follow.

What to store hatching eggs in:

Fertile eggs should be stored in a clean, sterile carton or container with their pointed ends facing downward. I like to use plastic egg cartons that I have thoroughly washed and dried after each use. Keep the container in a place where it will not get bumped or jostled. The place should also have the correct temperature and humidity.

Correct storage conditions for hatching eggs:

The best storing conditions for hatching eggs is an area that is around 55°F with a humidity level around 70-80%. The cool temperature will keep the eggs from beginning to develop because the embryo goes dormant. High humidity will keep the contents of the egg from evaporating. 

If you cannot find an area to keep your eggs in that has high enough humidity you have several options. You can place the egg carton in a plastic bag and seal the bag, or you can wrap each egg individually with plastic wrap. I like to wrap each egg in plastic wrap to minize evaporation prior to incubating.

How long to store hatching eggs:

Hatching eggs can be stored for up to 6 days without a significant decline in hatchability rates. If you have to store the eggs for any longer than 6 days you will want to turn the eggs to keep the embryo from sticking to the shell membrane. An easy way to turn eggs that are stored in a carton is to raise one end of the carton up on a block. Then, alternate between raising the ends of the carton on the block. Turn the eggs at least twice a day. The hatchability rate of fertile eggs will begin to decrease after 10 days of storing.

Should I wash hatching eggs?

Store only clean eggs and avoid incubating dirty eggs that could introduce harmful bacteria to the incubator. Washing hatching eggs is not usually recommended as it would wash away the protective bloom that is naturally on the egg’s shell.

Tips for mail ordered hatching eggs:

If you have mail-ordered your hatching eggs you will still want to let them set for at least 24 hours before putting them in the incubator. This allows the contents inside the eggs to settle and allows for any misplaced air cells to possibly straighten out.

How to Prepare the Incubator

It is a good idea to get familiar with your incubator before you get your hatching eggs. How your incubator runs will be dependant on the type of incubator you bought (still air or forced draft) and the brand and model of incubator you invested in. Always read the instruction manual that comes with your incubator to learn how your incubator operates.

Previously, I have used the Brinsea Mini Advance incubator to hatch Svart Hona eggs. Although it is small (holds 7 standard chicken eggs), it is a reliable little machine and once programmed, all I had to do was monitor the humidity. Now I use the Rcom Max 20 incubator to hatch my Svart Hona eggs. The Rcom incubator does everything for you: monitors humidity, temperature, and turns the eggs. The functions that your incubator controls (or doesn’t control) can be an important factor when deciding what incubator you want to invest in.

Regardless of the type of incubator you have, there are few essential preparations that must be done to prepare the incubator for incubating chicken eggs.

Basic Steps to Preparing an Incubator:

• Wash– Carefully wash any waterproof parts of your incubator before every hatch to be sure there is no harmful bacteria on the incubator that could ruin the hatch. I use a warm water solution with a splash of white vinegar.
• Wipe– Using a warm, damp cloth, wipe around the parts of the incubator that cannot be submerged in water.
• Air Dry– Once everything is washed, let the incubator air dry in a room that does not receive much commotion or activity. Reassemble the incubator once it is completely dry.
• Pre-run– Pre-run your incubator for at least 4-5 hours before putting your hatching eggs into the incubator. This allows you to make sure it is running correctly and to stabilize the temperature and humidity. I like to run mine for about 24 hours prior to putting eggs in so that I can test the humidity and temperature levels. If it is your first time using your incubator, I highly recommend running it fo at least 24 hours to get familiar with how the machine operates.
• Test the Turning– If your incubator has an automatic turning function, you will want to test that out to see how it operates and how it will turn the eggs. Things to keep in mind are whether or not any eggs will be pressured or jostled while turning and how much of a rotation the eggs will make when they are turned.

Preparing an Incubating Room

Aside from cleaning and preparing your incubator, you will also need to find an ideal place to keep the incubator while it is being used. The location should be decluttered, sturdy, and in a place that you can easily access. Here are some other essential features of a good incubating location:

• Easy to Remember– You will need to fill the incubator’s water reservoir throughout incubation to help maintain proper humidity and it’s always a good idea to check on your incubator daily.
• Out of the Way– The incubator should not be in a spot where it will get knocked, bumped, or unplugged during incubation.
• No Drafts– Avoid doorways, hallways, or high-traffic areas where constant air flow could cause drafts which will affect the incubator’s ability to maintain a correct temperature.
• Avoid Direct Sunlight– Keep the incubator away from windows where direct sunlight could heat up the incubator or windy drafts could cool it down.
• Constant Environment– Choose an area that maintains fairly stable temperature and humidity levels throughout the day and night.
• Temperate– Most incubators function best in an environment between 60-70°F .

How to Program an Incubator

To program your incubator, follow the instructions as outlined in the incubator’s instruction manual. Instructions may vary depending on what brand of incubator you are using.

Here are a few basic settings to keep in mind for hatching chicken eggs.

• Temperature: 99.5-99.6°F (forced air), 100-102°F (still air) 
• Incubation Days: 21 (for incubators that have a built in countdown)
• Humidity: 56-60% (forced air), 58-61% (still air) 
• Turning Mode: Auto (this setting may vary depending on the incubator brand)
• Turn Interval: every 1-2 hours, able to turn ‘automatic turning’ on or off 
• Turn Angle: dependent on the size of the eggs you are incubating (eggs should never be turned in a complete 180° rotation)  
• High Temp Alarm: 1.8° F
• Low Temp Alarm: 2.7° F
• Cooling: On or Off (this is up to you)

The exact settings that your incubator offers will be dependant on the brand and model of incubator you bought. Some incubators will have more programmable features than others. If you bought an incubator that does not have an automatic turning mechanism, you will need to turn the eggs manually.

When manually turning eggs, plan on turning them at east 3-5 times a day for the first 2 weeks of incubation. For the final days of incubation they can be turned twice day. Turning can stop after 18 days of incubation. You can mark the eggs so you know when you turned them each day. An X on one side and O on the side can be helpful for keeping track of manual turning. Never turn an egg in a complete 180° circle with can break the chalzae which holds the yolk in place in the egg.

Incubator Settings 101

Turning Settings– Having the Turning Mode on ‘Auto’ means the incubator will turn the eggs in 60 minute intervals (or whatever time you have the Turn Interval set to) until the last three days of incubation. It will then stop turning the eggs. The Turning Angle is based on the circumference of the eggs that are being incubated. One is for very small eggs and the numbers go up to 10 which is for average size chicken eggs. These settings are specific to the Brinsea Mini Advance incubator.

High & Low Temperature Alarms– These alarms will go off when there is a significant change in the incubator’s internal temperature. Developing eggs can withstand a lower temperature for longer then they can withstand higher temperatures. For that reason, the high and low temperature alarms are set accordingly.

Cooling– The Mini Advance incubator offers a ‘Cooling’ option. This is to mimic the mother hen leaving her nest for short periods of time during incubation. I usually chose to leave this setting off. I get nervous letting my eggs cool, especially when I know they will be cooled a little bit each time I open the lid to refill the water pot.

How to Control Humidity in an Incubator

It is always a good idea to test run your incubator and get the correct humidity level maintained prior to putting eggs in your incubator.

Many incubators do not have an automatic digital humidity reading. I use a small, terrarium hydrometer to monitor the humidity in incubators that don’t have a built in hydrometer. I also periodically use another small, digital hydrometer/thermometer to test and make sure that both the humidity and temperature are stable in the incubator.

A simple and safe method of checking the humidity in your incubator is by using the Brinsea Spot Check tool. It is basically a wand that you insert into one of the ventilation holes to get a humidity reading. This eliminates the need to open and close the incubator lid when checking the humidity. You can take humidity readings periodically throughout incubation to ensure the proper humidity level is being maintained.

The humidity range for chicken eggs is between 50-60% depending on the size of the eggs. Larger eggs incubate well at lower humidity levels since they have more moisture that needs to evaporate. Smaller eggs need higher humidity to prevent too much moisture from evaporating too soon.

How to Test Humidity During Incubation without a Spot Check Tool:

In between turning intervals, I quickly slip a small, digital hydrometer/thermometer inside the incubator and wait until it is reading the actual temperature and humidity. Once I get a reading I quickly and carefully remove it from the incubator. I don’t recommend doing this too many times during the incubation process, since you want minimize opening the incubator as much as possible.

How to Control the Humidity in an Incubator:

Different incubators will have different methods of controlling the humidity. I love that the Rcom Max 20 incubator has a feature that automatically controls the humidity for me! I just have to make sure the two water pots are full, which I can do without even opening the lid!

The Mini Advance has a water pot in the center of the base that is divided in half. Fill one half of the pot with room temperature water. To make adjustments in the humidity levels, just increase or decrease the water surface area. You can do this by covering part of the water pot with aluminum foil. To increase humidity, provide more water surface area with sponges or humidity pads if needed.

Here are some general tips for controlling the humditiy levels in your incubator:

• Water Surface Area– Increase or decrease the water surface area of the water reservoir to increase or decrease humidity levels. More water surface area means higher humidity levels.
• Ventilation– Open or close some of the ventilation vents on the incubator to increase or decrease humidity. Never close all the ventialtion vents at the same time.
• Warm Water– Use warm water to increase the humidity levels. 
• Sponges & Towels– Small moist sponges or small towels can also help increase humidity levels. 
• Incubating Room– Keep the humidity levels moderate in the incubating room to help the incubator maintain stable humidity levels.

Tips for Monitoring Humidity:

• Hatch Rate Caution– Opening the lid of an incubator allows for the temperature and humidity to decrease. This may effect your hatch rates if it is done too many times. Try and minimize the amount of times you have to lift the lid of an incubator to refill water pots or water reservoirs.
• Refill Schedule– Ideally get the humidity maintained so that the water pots/reservoirs have to be filled no more than every other day, if you can get it to last two or three days, that’s even better.
• Room Temperature Water– Having a clean water bottle filled with room temperature, distilled water sitting beside your incubator is helpful for refilling water pots/reservoirs.
• Refill Tools– I use a plastic pipette to make re-filling small water pots quick and easy! A container with an easy-pour spout is helpful for filling larger water reservoirs.

Why Humidity is SO Important

Having the right humidity levels during incubation is very important. Evaporation of the egg’s contents occurs during incubation, causing the air cell size to increase for when the chick hatches. Humidity levels that are too high decreases the amount of evaporation causing mushy chick syndrome (omphalitis). 

Humidity levels that are too low increases the evaporation and can dry out the inner membrane of the egg. This makes hatching very difficult for the chick. Monitoring the increase in size of the air cell can be a good indicator to see if your humidity is at the right level. Keeping track of egg weight lose can also help you monitor correct humidity levels during incubation.

How to Weigh Hatching Eggs

Another method of monitoring humidity is to weigh each of the hatching eggs at the same time you candle them (more about candling in the next post). As eggs incubate, they lose water due to evaporation, which causes them to decrease in weight. Chicken eggs should lose about 13% of their original weight by hatch time. You would need to buy a special egg scale made for weighing eggs if you were going to use that method, but it is a very reliable method for monitoring humidity.

I weigh my hatching eggs during every incubation. It is very helpful for monitoring the correct humidity and I have found that it has helped increase my hatch rates! I weigh the eggs before I set them, at day 10 when I candled them, and then one more time at lockdown. After each weighing, I follow the guidelines and do the math to figure out their weight lose.

I will go into more details on how to weigh hatching eggs in another post. In the meantime, here are some last minute preperations to make prior to setting your hatching eggs!

Last Minute Tips before Setting:

• Egg Control– Prepare a cushion or clean carton to set the eggs on or in before you set them in the incubator and to use when you candle the eggs. The cushion will prevent them from rolling all over the place. It also makes it easier for you to set them in the incubator quickly and efficiently.
• Notes– I find it helpful to make sticky note reminders for washing my hands before handling the hatching eggs or for checking the humidity.

Make sure you head on to the next post in this series… Incubating Chicken Eggs Part 2- Setting & Candling!

Congradulations! You are now ready to get set hatching eggs in your incubator! You know how to properly store fertile hatching eggs, how to program your incubator, how to set up an incubating room, and how to monitor and control humidity in your incubator! The next post in this series will guide you as you put those stored fertile eggs into the incubator. You will also learn how to candle your eggs, which gives you a glimpse into the development of the embryo! It’s exciting!

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by Alexa