Poultry Incubation and Hatching Poultry

I started incubating hen’s eggs and hatching poultry many years ago and watching chicks hatch is quite magical.

The first important thing to acquire is a good incubator one, which suits your requirements.

If you are only doing this for fun and on a small scale I would recommend the Brinsea Octagon 20 (Twenty Eggs).

This machine is self-turning which saves a lot of time and effort. Hens turn their eggs at least twice a day and for you to do this everyday for approximately 20 days is quite a commitment.

If the eggs are not turned regularly the chicks will die or be born deformed.

The turner on the incubator should be turned off about 4-5 days before the eggs are due to hatch but follow the instructions that come with the machine, also water is added to help the chicks break out of the shell; again follow he instructions different eggs require different duration’s.

When the great day finally arrives and the chicks make their debut appearance leave them to dry completely in the incubator and do not feed for at least 24 hours. The chicks will live on the egg sack for approximately 36 hours; this needs to be used up before feeding.

 Once dry and you are ready to move them, transfer to a plastic storage carton or something safe and washable. Put newspaper and maybe some fine wood shavings on the bottom.

A small purpose made drinker is best as the chicks will not get wet and supply starter crumbs (Chick Crumbs) ad lib. As they have no mother, one with feathers that is, you may have to teach them to eat. This is done by sprinkling the chick crumbs on to the newspaper from a height as to make a noise, which usually starts them pecking.

Most important of all is heat, with no hen to brood them a heat lamp over the box/carton is essential. The chicks will tell you if the heat is right i.e. if too cold the chicks will huddle together under the lamp, if too hot they will stay as far away as they can.

As they grow raise the lamp until the chicks appear comfortable. Pick some grass for them, this they adore, and if the weather is really warm and the chicks are starting to feather up put them under an Ark on the lawn for a few hours, beware of a change in the weather and CATS!!

As the chicks start to feather and the weather gets warm you should be able to turn the lamp off during the day just supplying heat at night which will get them used to the big world outside. At least six weeks old they should be ready to go to a safe place in your chicken run.

Poultry incubation is a very rewarding pastime and I hope you enjoy the experience and also I hope your chicks are not all Cockerels!