Hatching Eggs
Saturday, January 14, 2012 at 10:41AM 
As often as we can, we like to hatch our own eggs from our own layers.
The majority of eggs on our farm are fertile eggs because we have roosters with our layers. We have a pretty good amount of chicks that hatch because of this.
When we want to hatch eggs, we go gather a batch from out in the chicken coops and put them into our incubator.
Obviously mother hens have the absolute best hatching rate, but in order for us to hatch chicks the eggs must go into a controlled environment for 21 days. The eggs have to be turned and rotated twice a day. Most incubators will do this for you. The temperature has to be set between 99 and 102 degrees (100-101 degress is optimal). There has to be a bit of humidity in the incubators as well. We acheive this by placing a pan of water in the incubators or wet sponges.
You can 'candle' eggs to see if they are fertile or not. This is a really cool process! You basically look at the egg with a light source (flashlight works) in a dark room. If its a fertile egg, you can see an embryo forming that looks like a black dot at about 8 days into incubation. If its not a fertile egg, the egg will appear clear.
We stop turning the eggs about 2 to 3 days before they are supposed to hatch so that the chicks can start making 'pip' holes in the eggs and work their way out. The temperature will also stay about 100 to 101 degress. If you've never seen this process, it is a sight to witness and so fascinating watching the chicks work their way out. It's really hard not to want to help them get out of their shells, but them building up the strength and endurance to break out of them will help them survive once they make it out.
Once the eggs are done hatching, we'll move them into a different brooder box with wood shavings, food, and water. At this point, we'll try and keep the temp at about 95 degrees or so. They'll stay in an environment like this until they feather out and can withstand being outside. From that point they'll live the rest of their days out in the pasture with the other layers.
Hopefully they will earn their keep by laying beautiful and delicious eggs for all of our wonderful customers to enjoy!
This girl is never far from her daddy!
The incubators and brooder box.
Reader Comments (1)
Beautiful brooder cases!! Do you guys ever sell your chicks? -paige at UPFarms