How to properly incubate eggs

[BarrettG]

I'm new at the chicken hobby all together. I'm about 6 months in and I have 2 RIR'S and 1 astrolope that are laying. I have a white leg horn rooster. I am storing the eggs at room temperature. I have them laying on the side as would a hen. My question is how to incubate them and what to look for. Do you stop half way to candle the eggs or just set the incubator and hope for the best. I have read that eggs can blow up and I don't want that to happen. Also what happens if the chick's hatch and I'm not there till a few hours later. Please help me get some guidance with your experience.

 

[MeepBeep]

There are lots of existing threads an how to tutorials that go into this in great depth, so I would direct you towards those resources vs typing it all out... But, I will touch on a few specific questions you asked...

There won't be much to candle until after the first week, but you candle sooner if you want, with a keen eye and experience you will see stuff earlier than 1 week...

Eggs rarely blow up over the incubation period... Especially if you candle at some point and remove the duds...

Chickens are good to go for about 3 days with no care, a few hours or even a day or two in the incubator won't cause any harm as long as they have sufficient room and can't contact anything harmful like a fan or heating element... Most people leave the chicks in the incubator for several hours if not days if others are still hatching, so they can fluff up and dry out before they move them to a brooder...

 

[BarrettG]

There are lots of existing threads an how to tutorials that go into this in great depth, so I would direct you towards those resources vs typing it all out... But, I will touch on a few specific questions you asked...

There won't be much to candle until after the first week, but you candle sooner if you want, with a keen eye and experience you will see stuff earlier than 1 week...

Eggs rarely blow up over the incubation period... Especially if you candle at some point and remove the duds...

Chickens are good to go for about 3 days with no care, a few hours or even a day or two in the incubator won't cause any harm as long as they have sufficient room and can't contact anything harmful like a fan or heating element... Most people leave the chicks in the incubator for several hours if not days if others are still hatching, so they can fluff up and dry out before they move them to a brooder...

That's good to know. I will read up on what to look for at 1 week and remove the bad eggs.Thank you!

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I'm new at the chicken hobby all together. I'm about 6 months in and I have 2 RIR'S and 1 astrolope that are laying. I have a white leg horn rooster. I am storing the eggs at room temperature. I have them laying on the side as would a hen. My question is how to incubate them and what to look for. Do you stop half way to candle the eggs or just set the incubator and hope for the best. I have read that eggs can blow up and I don't want that to happen. Also what happens if the chick's hatch and I'm not there till a few hours later. Please help me get some guidance with your experience.

Great guiding thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101
For figuring out humidity (I use this method, but not recommended for high elevations as they tend to need a higher humidity) http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity
For candling eggs (comparison pics): https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation

Good luck on your hatch and keep us posted!!

 

[BarrettG]

Great guiding thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/hatching-eggs-101
For figuring out humidity (I use this method, but not recommended  for high elevations as they tend to need a higher humidity) http://letsraisechickens.weebly.com...anuals-understanding-and-controlling-humidity
For candling eggs (comparison pics): https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/...g-candling-pics-progression-though-incubation

Good luck on your hatch and keep us posted!!

Awesome! I sure will. Thank you so much. I think a white leghorn and RIR or astrolope bird would be an egg making beast. Plus it's even more of a bond I feel because you brought them into the world. I'm excited

 

[ChristieB]

I have just incubated my first eggs with great success, I'm by no means an expert, I only know what I've read here but I'll share my experience.
(Apologies, picture heavy, I'm a bit excited by the whole thing as it's very recent and I tend to over share)
My eggs had been in the fridge a week before I realised they might be fertile, the whole thing was an experiment. I finally got around to setting them 2 weeks after they were laid, I set 5 eggs in a Janoel 10 mini incubator.
Make sure you have everything ready before you set them, calibrate all your thermometers and hydrometers, don't trust that they are accurate straight from the box, run it for at least 24 hours before setting. I chose to dry hatch so my humidity was around 30-40% with just a little water, I'm just guessing as my hydrometer didn't arrive till 2 weeks in but after callibrating using the salt test, (it read 6% higher than true), I put it in without making any changes in the incubator and it read 45% (39%).
Temp was set at 37.5 to 38 Celsius, this incubator I had to wrap in a blanket and put in a cardboard box to help insulate but it was fine other wise, I had 3 extra thermometers and checked them against each other daily, I didn't worry touch about little fluctuations as it's the average temp over the whole time that is important.
I had to manually turn them, if you can get an automatic turner then I recommend it, just incase you can't be home or forget to turn, doesn't hurt if it's just a few hours late every now and then but it would be easier to not have to think about it.
I candled first on day 6, 1 egg was clear, self explanatory, there was nothing to see. The other 4 had a small bean shape with fine veins radiating from the center, if you look closely you might see movement.

I left the clear in there just in case, it didn't smell so wasn't going explode.
I candled again day 11 I took out the clear then as it wasn't doing anything, unfortunately I dropped one of the eggs :/ I taped it up and it survived for another 2 days before dying.
I also marked air cells that day

Candled from both top and bottom. You can still see the veins, the air cell is the clear space and you can see the chick hasn't yet filling the egg but its no longer easy to see, movement is a lot more noticeable.

Lock down is day 18 I candled again day 14 and 18 but didn't take photos, I had set in the evening so I didnt lock down till the next morning, I filled the rest of the water reservoirs with warm water and it sat comfortably at 70-80%
Then comes the hardest part, don't open it, don't touch it, if you have to open it be quick, viewing windows and reservoirs you can fill externally make life easier, late day 21 I noticed the first pip, humidity shot up so while I was fixing that I candled in place (without picking them up) and say they had all pipped into the air cell

Second pip soon followed

Then nothing literally nothing, it's so hard waiting and waiting but it can take 24 hours (or more as I learned)
By the time I went to bed number 3 had pipped and in the morning had broken away a piece of shell , after that it was only a couple hours before zipping and busting free (literally, it's quite violent!)

The humidity stayed really high after that, my incubator has no vents so I couldn't do anything about it, all remaining chicks had small holes in the shell that I could see them breathing through so I didn't worry, I left it in about an hour but it was really thrashing about and rolling the other eggs around so I risked opening the incubator and popped the baby in a mini brooder under a heat pad (I don't trust heat lamps, especially with my kids!)
Chick 2 hatched quickly about 4 hours later, I only saw the last big kick to get out

I left it a bit longer but same problem, it just kept thrashing around, knocking the remaining egg and all the thermometers around (a failing of this incubator design)

The last egg was like waiting for someone to go into labour , I had to sit on my hands for a long time but after having to wet the membranes around the pip several times and watching the chick getting weaker in it's movements I decided to step in and help, it was about 26 hours from when I first noticed the pip. I read and re read the assited hatching article by Sally sunshine as well as any others I could find on the subject to make sure I knew what I was doing I wet a paper towel with warm water, wrapped the egg in it and using pair of tweezers I broke away the shell tiny bits at a time around the expected zip line, I only kept but out about 3 minutes at a time before wetting the membranes wrapping it and putting it back for an hour or so to warm up. About midnight i had a gone around 2/3 of the air cell and a little from the top, I peeled away the driest parts of the outer membrane and wrapped in back up in a warm wet paper towel and went to bed, by morning the chick was out,

They've all fluffed up nicely and are incredibly cute!

All in all well worth it, would absolutely do it again, might try duck eggs next time

 

[BarrettG]

ChristieB your awesome. Thank you for sharing. I have brown eggs so I need to get a strong flashlight to candle. I'm excited. Out of curiosity how much was your incubator?

 

[AmyLynn2374]

I have just incubated my first eggs with great success, I'm by no means an expert, I only know what I've read here but I'll share my experience.
(Apologies, picture heavy, I'm a bit excited by the whole thing as it's very recent and I tend to over share)
My eggs had been in the fridge a week before I realised they might be fertile, the whole thing was an experiment. I finally got around to setting them 2 weeks after they were laid, I set 5 eggs in a Janoel 10 mini incubator.
Make sure you have everything ready before you set them, calibrate all your thermometers and hydrometers, don't trust that they are accurate straight from the box, run it for at least 24 hours before setting. I chose to dry hatch so my humidity was around 30-40% with just a little water, I'm just guessing as my hydrometer didn't arrive till 2 weeks in but after callibrating using the salt test, (it read 6% higher than true), I put it in without making any changes in the incubator and it read 45% (39%).
Temp was set at 37.5 to 38 Celsius, this incubator I had to wrap in a blanket and put in a cardboard box to help insulate but it was fine other wise, I had 3 extra thermometers and checked them against each other daily, I didn't worry touch about little fluctuations as it's the average temp over the whole time that is important.
I had to manually turn them, if you can get an automatic turner then I recommend it, just incase you can't be home or forget to turn, doesn't hurt if it's just a few hours late every now and then but it would be easier to not have to think about it.
I candled first on day 6, 1 egg was clear, self explanatory, there was nothing to see. The other 4 had a small bean shape with fine veins radiating from the center, if you look closely you might see movement.


I left the clear in there just in case, it didn't smell so wasn't going explode.
I candled again day 11 I took out the clear then as it wasn't doing anything, unfortunately I dropped one of the eggs

I taped it up and it survived for another 2 days before dying.
I also marked air cells that day

Candled from both top and bottom. You can still see the veins, the air cell is the clear space and you can see the chick hasn't yet filling the egg but its no longer easy to see, movement is a lot more noticeable.


Lock down is day 18 I candled again day 14 and 18 but didn't take photos, I had set in the evening so I didnt lock down till the next morning, I filled the rest of the water reservoirs with warm water and it sat comfortably at 70-80%
Then comes the hardest part, don't open it, don't touch it, if you have to open it be quick, viewing windows and reservoirs you can fill externally make life easier, late day 21 I noticed the first pip, humidity shot up so while I was fixing that I candled in place (without picking them up) and say they had all pipped into the air cell

Second pip soon followed

Then nothing literally nothing, it's so hard waiting and waiting but it can take 24 hours (or more as I learned)
By the time I went to bed number 3 had pipped and in the morning had broken away a piece of shell , after that it was only a couple hours before zipping and busting free (literally, it's quite
The humidity stayed really high after that, my incubator has no vents so I couldn't do anything about it, all remaining chicks had small holes in the shell that I could see them breathing through so I didn't worry, I left it in about an hour but it was really thrashing about and rolling the other eggs around so I risked opening the incubator and popped the baby in a mini brooder under a heat pad (I don't trust heat lamps, especially with my kids!)
Chick 2 hatched quickly about 4 hours later, I only saw the last big kick to get out

I left it a bit longer but same problem, it just kept thrashing around, knocking the remaining egg and all the thermometers around (a failing of this incubator design)

The last egg was like waiting for someone to go into labour , I had to sit on my hands for a long time but after having to wet the membranes around the pip several times and watching the chick getting weaker in it's movements I decided to step in and help, it was about 26 hours from when I first noticed the pip. I read and re read the assited hatching article by Sally sunshine as well as any others I could find on the subject to make sure I knew what I was doing I wet a paper towel with warm water, wrapped the egg in it and using pair of tweezers I broke away the shell tiny bits at a time around the expected zip line, I only kept but out about 3 minutes at a time before wetting the membranes wrapping it and putting it back for an hour or so to warm up. About midnight i had a gone around 2/3 of the air cell and a little from the top, I peeled away the driest parts of the outer membrane and wrapped in back up in a warm wet paper towel and went to bed, by morning the chick was out,

They've all fluffed up nicely and are incredibly cute!

All in all well worth it, would absolutely do it again, might try duck eggs next time

They are all adorable, but I love that blue!