Egg collection and incubation can be a tricky subject if you’re doing it artificially. If you don’t have the means to do it artificially, you should feel comfortable putting your trust in your hens to do it for you. Until you actually have to take the unfertilized/rotten eggs, of course. Hens don’t have opposable thumbs. Or arms.

Natural incubation is really quite simple. Your broody hen will sit on the fertilized eggs throughout the entire process, only leaving to eat and drink once a day. You may want to candle these eggs during this time since you’ll absolutely want to get rid of the rotten eggs.

Artificial incubation is best for keepers who want to hatch a number of chicks. This can be helpful for egg production purposes as your hens get older and their laying abilities slow down. Hens can only hold so many eggs underneath them when they’re broody, so if you have a bunch, an incubator might be the way to go.

Artificial incubation makes egg selection 10x easier than natural since you have full control of when you’ll get to actually see the eggs. With that being said, you’ll still want to leave them alone the vast majority of the time.

Candling eggs is the best method for egg collection, so much so that we’ve talked about it on TWO different occasions already! Once in our “Free Range Eggs” guide, and once in our “Broody Hens Guide.”

Candling eggs is the process of viewing the inner contents of an egg by placing it in front of a bright light (most people use a flashlight or a specific candling device). The reason its called “candling” is that they used to use a…...candle. Shocker, eh?

Candling is used to estimate the age of an egg, as well as whether it’s been fertilized or if it’s going to rot. When you’re shining the light onto the egg, if you can barely see the yolk, you’ve got yourself a fresh egg, but if you’re seeing the yolk move around the egg freely and clearly, you’ve probably got an egg that’s a bit older.

You’ll want to make sure you’re identifying the non-fertile eggs early and often because they are likely to burst in the nest and contaminate the other eggs. It’ll also stink and nobody needs that!

The best way to candle an egg is to hold the egg with your thumb and first two fingers. Place the flashlight facing the larger end of the egg. By tilting the large end of the egg slightly toward the light, you’ll be able to examine the contents of the egg.

Candling is a process generally used when hatching chicks using an incubator, but there’s no reason why you wouldn’t be able to do it with your candling device when your broody hen leaves the nest to eat and drink.

Creating a candling schedule is a good way to stay on top of things. Some get really into it and candle their eggs every day, but we suggest doing it every second or third day, and not starting until around day six or seven. This is because your hen’s eggs won’t develop much in those first few days anyway, and it’s harder to tell whether an egg is good, bad or ugly.

Once you hit day 16, you should stop candling completely. We know, we know, you are curious!

But as they go into their last few days of incubation, they shouldn’t be moved or turned at all. It’s unlikely you’d be able to see anything in there anyway since the chicks will have developed so much over the first two weeks.

Below we have provided a handy graphic to show you how to candle an egg.

<p><strong>Please include attribution to www.milefour.com with this graphic.</strong><br><br><a href="www.milefour.com/blogs/learn/how-to-breed-chickens-guide"><img src="https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0016/2276/9776/files/Cnadling-Eggs-600px.jpg?v=1575581239" alt="Candling Eggs" width="600px" border="0"></a></p>

Temperature & Humidity Control

When using an incubator, you should check carefully what the running temperature of the model is. Each incubator will vary slightly on temperature and humidity, especially since some models are forced-air incubators, and some are still-air incubators.

A forced-air incubator should sit at around 99.5°F while a still-air incubator should run at 102°F. Never exceed temperatures of 103°F for forced-air and 107°F for still-air, as these are lethal temperatures for incubating eggs.¹

As you get used to your incubator and hatch a few different times, you’ll start to notice which temperatures work best for you and can tweak as you go.

While humidity control is not as important as temperature control, it should still be managed effectively. This is because there’s a fine line between the perfect amount of moisture and the chicks either not being able to break out of the shell, or suffering from omphalitis. This is when the yolk sac cannot be absorbed, which leads to bacterial infections and death at hatching (and in some cases for up to 14 days afterward).

Every incubator you own will have a humidity device that releases moisture at different levels. Some will have to be filled manually, while others will have a device connected to the incubator that releases the moisture into the air periodically. Regardless, you’ll want to always be on top of humidity control by adjusting the vents.

Opening the vents decreases humidity by allowing air to escape while closing the vents has the opposite effect.

60% humidity is the golden number for incubators. Each incubator is different, so following the instructions of your model closely will be your best bet, but if you want to be able to measure humidity exactly, you’ll need to purchase a hygrometer.

Relatively inexpensive ($30ish), these devices should keep your mind at ease when setting up your incubator to make sure your chicks hatch successfully. Just like temperature control, you’ll want to follow the manufacturer's recommendation for humidity, and make small adjustments for future hatches until you’ve found your sweet spot.

Remember, not every egg is going to successfully hatch, so don’t get too down on yourself or make any drastic changes to temperature and humidity the next time. You’ve got this!

Cleaning Your Incubator

Every incubator should be cleaned after each hatch. If you’re neglecting cleaning an incubator, you’ll see a sharp decline in the success of future hatches, and it will spread bacteria and disease to eggs and a fast rate.

Incubators vary in the ease of cleaning, so you’ll want to spend time planning how exactly you’ll clean your specific incubator. Cleaning and disinfecting are the two things you must do to ensure your future hatches are successful.

If you’re planning on having eggs incubate while another set hatches, we recommend using two separate incubators. Some incubators come with several different sections so eggs can incubate while others hatch, but contamination, bacteria, and disease are big problems with these, so it would be best to have two or more incubators if this is your plan.

Make sure not to use any chemical cleaners on any part of your incubator. The chemicals can be absorbed by the materials of your incubator and will have a negative effect on future hatchings.

Warm water with a small amount of mild bleach is the best way to go for cleaning while you scrub with a brush.

Once you’ve cleaned your incubator, make sure to dry it thoroughly before storing it (or using it again for a future hatching). If it’s a nice day, leave it out in the backyard to make sure it dries completely, and then store it in a cool, dry place like a storage room or kitchen cabinet if you have room.

Chapter 5: Hatching Chicks

Chick Hatching Process

Once you’ve done the hard work of candling your eggs, you should have a decent selection for hatching.

You’ll know when a chick is ready to hatch when the egg has a “pip.” The pip is the small hole a chick makes in the egg to indicate it’s showtime. That chick will generally hatch within 24 hours of the pip being made, but there are some exceptions dependant on egg size, temperature, and humidity.

Unfortunately, during the process, you’re going to run into some eggs that simply don’t hatch. It’s likely that you’ll find a chick or two that die after they’ve hatched too. For any in-tact eggs you find two or three days after the first chick hatches, make sure to candle them again to see what’s inside.

What to do Once Chicks Have Hatched

If you’ve followed our Broody Hen Guide (and fingers crossed you did!) you’ll already be feeding your hen our Starter Feed. You’ll want to continue with the Starter feeding plan for the first few weeks of the chicks' lives. It’s highly unlikely that you’ll be able to separate the hen from her chicks and vice versa with natural hatching, so to make it easier for all involved, stick with the starter feed for now!

Keep your once-broody hen separate from the rest of the flock along with her chicks for the first few weeks. Most free-range flocks get along just fine, but some chickens have been known to kill a very young chick just like they would any other small critter than gets up in their business.

Once you think they’re old enough to be part of the gang, you can start to introduce them to the flock at night time. This is because everyone should be relaxed and more likely to welcome the newcomers as opposed to being rowdy and rambunctious.

Use your discretion, however, and keep your eye on the flock for a little while to make sure everyone is getting along. If you notice any trouble, you can separate the chicks again until they grow a little more.

When your chicks have hatched in an incubator, you’ll want to move them to a brooder once they’re dry and fluffy. Moving them while wet will severely lower their temperature and potentially cause premature death.

A brooder can be made quite easily with an enclosure, a heat lamp and a food source for the chicks who should have at least a square foot of space each. Pine shavings can be used for bedding on the floor of the brooder, and you’ll also want to make sure they have fresh air.

In the brooder, you’ll want to keep the temperature quite high at first. Between 93-95°F will suit them for the first week, and you can start to lower the temperature by 3-5°F per week after that for six weeks total. After this, they can survive on their own outside the brooder.

Potential Chick Hatching Issues

Most issues surrounding hatching chicks have to do with improper temperature or humidity and can generally be prevented with proper planning and management during incubation.

The two most common issues that arise in hatching chicks are:

Crooked toes Splayed legs

Crooked toes are directly impacted by the temperature of the incubator being too low, while splayed legs is the opposite. Splayed legs can also be caused by having too smooth of an incubation tray. When the chicks hatch, if they aren’t able to get a good enough grip on the tray, their legs can become splayed, so be sure to watch for that when shopping for an incubator.

Keeping Records

The best way to ensure you can improve your hatching and incubation abilities is by keeping records of the chicks that hatch. This is because if you’re planning on hatching chicks a few times a year or more, you’ll want to avoid the mistakes you may have made previously.

The best way to do this is to use a wing band to keep track of who’s who in the flock. Wing banding is relatively easy, but you’ll want to make sure the chicks are at least one day old and starting to toughen up a bit.

The cool thing about wing banding is the band will grow as the chicken does, so assuming you keep it on, it’ll stay with the chicken for life.

Below we’ve provided a video showing you how to apply a wing band on a newly hatched chick!

Once your chicks have been banded, you should start to write down detailed information about them so you can improve your future hatches as you fine-tune temperature, humidity, cleaning techniques and more.

Not only will you want to take notes about your chicks (color, gender etc.) you’ll also want to take notes about the hatch itself.

When did it start?

When did it conclude?

How many chicks hatched?

How many didn’t?

What was the average temperature and humidity?

You get the idea.

It may seem a little overwhelming right now to take so many notes, but you’ll thank yourself in the future when you can look back and see the progress you’ve made, especially if you use our handy graphic below!

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