Hatching eggs can be the best project to take on while you’re home, mainly for those looking to start backyard flocks. Incubating chicken eggs takes almost three weeks to complete and requires an egg incubator to help control temperature, humidity, and egg turning. When the egg hatches, you can help the baby chicks grow strong by feeding them and giving them little water. Chickens usually hatch after 21 days, but this can vary depending on the environment.
There are five stages of a chicken egg’s hatching, as described below:
1. Day 1: Setting Up the Eggs
Setting up the egg occurs after you have set up your incubator and collected all fertilized eggs. You must set your egg in the tray with the large end facing up. The incubator’s temperature should range between 90-100.6 degrees Fahrenheit with a humidity of about 50-60 percent at that time. You should have a minimum of six eggs in the incubator since the eggs may not hatch if you have less than six.
2. Day 1-18: Turning the Eggs
When the eggs are in the incubator, you must leave them there and never try to disturb them unless you want to turn them. In the egg, the embryo should be at the top of the yolk, though the yolk often floats to the top. When you turn the eggs, it will give the yolk and the embryo a chance to be in their required positions.
Turning up the eggs also helps to prevent the developing chick from getting stuck in the egg. You will be required to turn the egg about three times a day, but when you have many eggs, you can wait for the automatic turning up, which is the most convenient and will also reduce the incubator’s opening time.
Eggs turn for the first 16–18 days of the chicks’ development. You have to wash your hands or wear gloves when turning the eggs to prevent them from being harmed by the soil that may be contained in your hands.
3. Days 7-10: Candling the Eggs
Candling refers to when you shine a light on an egg to see the contents of the egg. Eggs start candling between the 7th day and the 10th day. During this time, you can start candling the eggs to see if the embryos have developed. The best and simplest method is to shine a flashlight on the eggs.
When an egg has no dark spots, it means it is infertile or the chick inside has died. An egg containing a red spot or ring indicates that the embryo has died. When you see an egg with these characteristics, you should remove it from the incubator, including broken or leaking eggs.
You will see a living embryo inside, with a visible blood vessel for an egg that is alive. The embryo of an egg appears as a dark area in the egg, and sometimes you may see movement. When it reaches the 18th day, the embryo will take up the majority of the interior of the egg.
To tell if the chick is alive in the egg, you can use the method of candling the eggs.
4. Days 18-21: Pre-Hatching
This is the point at which an embryo should be fully developed in the eggs. At this stage, the unborn chick will be prepared for hatching.
At this stage, you have one last turn where you place the large part facing up to enable the chick to position itself in the egg.
5. Day 21: Hatching the Eggs
Most chickens hatch on the 21st day, but if yours has not, you can give it time until day 24. If it is still unhatched, candle it to see if it’s alive.
Maybe you are wondering whether all chicken eggs hatch at the same time. The answer is no, not all chickens hatch eggs at the same time.
On the last day, chicks break up the shells. Make sure you don’t interfere with the hatching process. The chicken egg-hatching process can take 24 hours.
How Do You Know When Chicken Eggs Are About to Hatch?
Sometimes, you may know that eggs are about to hatch when you hear the peeping of new baby chicks coming from the eggs.
Secondly, you can tell that an egg is about to hatch when it looks clearer than the air cell, which you will see at the fat end of the egg.
Furthermore, when the hen stops laying and remains seated on her eggs, she ruffles her feathers, spreads her wings, and makes a distinctive clucking sound, which shows that eggs are about to be hatched.
How Long Does It Take a Chick to Hatch Once It Breaks the Shell?
When a chick breaks the shell of an egg, it will need about three hours to complete the hatching process. The process is usually done on day 21, but this is inaccurate since eggs are not hatched simultaneously.
This is because the eggs receive different temperatures and humidity but are otherwise the same. The chick will make a hole in a shell by using its egg tooth.
How Long Does It Take For a Chick to Hatch after the First
The standard incubation time for a chicken egg is 20–21 days. It takes almost 24 hours for a chick to hatch from the first egg.
Some eggs may hatch on a different day due to the breed of the chicken or the temperature and humidity the eggs receive.
