Incubating Eggs |
Step 1 The Eggs You have to have a rooster with the hens for fertility. Start gathering eggs the next day after putting the rooster in because a hen lays an egg a day and the eggs of that day are not fertile. Choosing eggs to hatch is not hard to do. Do not gather odd shaped eggs. Keep the eggs you collect at room temperature. Do not refrigerate! Eggs have a better chance of hatching if they are 1 to 7 days old. Step 2 Placing the Eggs in the Incubator
Setting the eggs is easy. First, fill the tray at bottom of the incubator with water. If your incubator does not have a tray you can make one by using a bowl. Eggs need to incubate in a moist environment. Then take eggs out of cartons one by one and make an X on one side and an O on the other side. Place X up first. This helps you to know which eggs have been turned or not. Turn the eggs 2 to 3 times a day till the 18th day of� incubation. Step 3 The Peep Hole
On day 20 there will be a crack called a peep hole. Do not get excited and expect it to hatch in a couple of hours. You might want to break the shell for the chick but that could cause an injury, and allowing the chick to break the shell helps to build muscles. The chick at the maximum should take 24 hours to break out of the shell. ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Step 4 Care for your Chicks� ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� I use news paper to put the chicks on the first day or two. After this they should be put on wood chips. The feed is easy just put some in a dish and some on the news papers, that way they can find the food. Dip their beaks in the water to teach them to drink and where the water is. The water is almost as easy 1 gallon for every 25 chicks and if they start drowning put some marbles in the water trough. �Step 5 Pullets Laying hens are good for your own egg supply and they save you money. Pullets are hens that haven�t started laying eggs yet. Do not expect pullets to start laying eggs right away, it takes 5-6 months for most breeds to start. My aunt had 25 pullets that hadn�t started laying and were almost 5 months old. She decided she had too many that weren�t laying so one day she started butchering them. She butchered 9, and noticed that the pullets had eggs in them in various stages of development. One even had a whole egg with the shell ready to be laid.
I got my incubator from Murray McMurray Hatchery. We also order different breeds of chickens from there. They have a really great website. We get our chicken waterers and feeders from the farm supply store. I recently started getting an interesting magazine called Backyard Poultry (1-800-551-5691).
Brock Brenneman has been the �chicken boss� at the Brenneman home since he was 3-4 years old. His fascination with chickens has never waned. The first chapter book he completed was �A Better Guide to Hatching�. He is a veritable wealth of knowledge about chickens and chicken breeds. When he grows up, he wants to own a hatchery. |
Date: 03/06 |
Learn here why your children need to eat one egg every day! |