Once a hen goes broody and starts setting on eggs, it takes about 21 days for the eggs to hatch, which is the same amount of time it would take in an egg incubator. When it comes to eggs that your home flock is laying, there is some variability in how long it takes, so…

The humidity level in your incubator can have a big effect on the success of your hatch. Start by following the instructions that came with your incubator on what humidity level to target, but keep records and improvise from there. The more you incubate and learn from your results, the better your hatch rates will…

Selecting and Candling the Eggs We went through first and selected the eggs to use. We’ve already set aside any that are too dirty or too old, now we’re candling the “good” eggs to look for any that are cracked. Sometimes the cracks are so fine that they are nearly impossible to see until you…

I recently incubated another batch of eggs from our Black Australorps. One of the first steps when incubating chicken eggs is choosing which eggs to hatch. Why does this matter? For several reasons. First, not all eggs are equally likely to hatch. Excessively large or small eggs tend to produce chicks that are less vigorous…

Once you’ve gained some experience raising chickens, I recommend starting to hatch eggs. You can perpetuate your chickens by hatching eggs from your own flock instead of needing to buy chicks every few years. It’s interesting and enjoyable, and you can learn a lot in the process. Hatching and raising chicks from eggs from your…

Certain times during the year, particularly during the spring, some of your hens may go broody. Some breeds of chickens (and certain strains) are more prone toward broodiness than others. What is broodiness? It’s when a hen decides to sit on eggs to hatch them. Her body goes through certain hormonal changes, and her behavior…