How to Incubate Large Fowl Chicken Eggs
Chicken eggs -- whether large fowl or bantam eggs -- are easy to hatch if you have the proper equipment, a warm and secure location and a little knowledge. It takes a large fowl egg 21 days to hatch. People hatching chicken eggs spend most of this time awaiting their development. In the meantime, try these tips to ensure your large fowl chicken eggs will hatch.
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Instructions
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Choose the incubator that will best suit your needs. A Styrofoam incubator purchased at your local feed store is fine for hatching a few eggs or hatching eggs just one time. Cabinet-style incubators are more appropriate for hatching many eggs or for long-term repeated use. Learn more about incubators from a variety of sources including hatchery websites and sites dedicated to raising a home flock.
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Choose your incubator's location. Find a place that's far from the house's main traffic flow, easy to reach and relatively draft-free.
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Set up your incubator according to the package's directions. This process involves adjusting the temperature regulator and filling the reservoir.
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Purchase fertile eggs from a local source or from websites. Eggs from the grocery store are infertile and they will not hatch.
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Periodically check the incubator's temperature and humidity 24 hours before adding the eggs. Ideally, the temperature for hatching eggs is 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit, but the temperature should be between 99 and 101 degrees during that time. Humidity should remain at a steady 50 percent before you add the eggs. Use a thermometer to check the temperature and a hygrometer to check the humidity in your incubator.
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Use a pencil to mark one side of each egg with an “X” and the opposite side with an “O.” Assign a common letter -- whether X or O -- to the eggs' large ends and label the small ends with the other letter. Later, these letters will indicate whether each egg has been turned.
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Place eggs in the incubator with the large ends higher than the small ends. The larger side of the egg must be higher at all times for the chick to develop and hatch properly. If the smaller end is higher during incubation, an air pocket will not form correctly and the chick will drown during hatching.
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Turn all eggs so that the same symbol -- X or O -- faces up at the same time. Each time you turn the eggs, the opposite symbol should be displayed on all eggs before you close the incubator. For instance, if you start with an "X" when you put eggs into the incubator, when you turn the eggs, all eggs should display an "O" when they are turned.
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Close the incubator lid or door. The incubator should remain closed except to turn the eggs or to adjust the temperature or humidity. Eggs must be turned twice a day, every day, to avoid dead or misshapen chicks. Automatic egg turners are available for many incubator styles.
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Maintain the humidity at 50 percent until day 18. Then, raise the humidity to 70 percent or 80 percent until the eggs hatch.
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Close the incubator after raising the humidity. Don't open the incubator again until all the eggs have hatched. Do not turn the eggs at this stage.
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Tips & Warnings
It is better for eggs to be slightly too cool during incubation than it is for them to be too hot. While a cooler temperature will delay hatching, in many cases the eggs will still hatch. Chicks and embryos in eggs that get too hot will die.
Periodically remove eggs that “weep” moisture from their sides and any eggs that emit an odor. Spoiled eggs will foul the incubator if they explode.
Chicks can live without food or water for about three days while the entire clutch of eggs hatches because their bodies absorb the egg yolk after emerging from the shell. Don't remove chicks from the incubator until all eggs have hatched.
Avoid placing an incubator in an area frequently exposed to cigarette smoke. Cigarette smoke can prevent eggs from hatching.
Some varieties of large fowl chicken eggs are particularly difficult to hatch. Novices should hatch inexpensive mixed barnyard eggs or eggs from production breeds -- like leghorns, Rhode Island Reds or the Orpington variety -- until they have successfully hatched eggs and fully understand the incubating process.
Washing eggs before putting them in the incubator removes their protective coating and makes them vulnerable to bacteria.
References
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