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Here are some egg incubation tips to keep your chicks healthy and safe


General Egg Incubation Tips

Your eggs should hatch around 21 days, although sometimes they may hatch a day or two early, after your incubation starts. Every "day" is counted as a full 24 hours, so your "Day One" would be the first 24 hours after setting the egg. Your "Day Two" will then be the next 24 hours etc. If you "set" your eggs on a Monday, it's most likely a safe bet that they will also hatch on a Monday in 21 days, or 3 weeks later.

Obtain a clean, even shaped, undamaged eggs for incubating. If it is possible, don't store them too long in the pre-incubation stage. Ideally your eggs should be "set" within one week after being laid and after 10 days the hatchability of the eggs decreases significantly.

**A note on shipped eggs: Your shipped eggs should be allowed to rest and for 24 hours prior to setting, to allow the contents of the eggs to settle. Place your shipped eggs upright, with the fat end of the egg up, in an egg carton, or something similar. Shipped eggs often have loose or damaged air cells.

Before putting your eggs into an eggs incubator, plug it in and make sure that the incubator thermostat temperature is steady and consistent. In a forced air incubator (with a fan) the temperature should be between 99-99.5*F. In a still air eggs incubator the temperature of your egg incubator should be slightly higher on your
incubator thermostat, and be between 101-102*F measured at the top of the eggs. I always use a thermometer and a hygrometer (which measures humidity) in my incubator. Hygrometers can be purchased quite cheaply at a cigar shop, electronics store and even Walmart. You want between 45-50% humidity for day 1-18, then increase it to 65% for the last few days before the hatch.
Also use a non-toxic marker and mark eggs with an X on one side and an O on the other, so when you are turning them you can make sure they all got turned. More about turning later...

Types of Incubators for Eggs

There are many makes and models of egg incubators for sale and they vary greatly in price, quality and user-friendliness. It is important that you read reviews of the egg incubators to find the correct incubator that fits your needs.

Egg Fertility and Candling

Natural fertility is not always 100% - it may vary between 55% to 95% with the current season, the condition and the type of birds. You should expect that you will have a 50% to 75% hatch rate with fertile eggs. Although a 90%-100% hatchability rate can and does happen. If you have your eggs shipped to you, a 50% hatchability rate should be expected. Fertility of eggs cannot be determined before you put them in your egg incubator. After 5-7 days, white-shelled eggs can be candled to see if embryos have developed. If there is no sign of development by day 10, please discard any "clears" you may have.

Positioning of Eggs

Your incubating egg could be set into a normal position as it would lay on a flat surface; that is with the large end slightly higher than the point, or upright in egg cartons/turners, with the fat end of the egg always up. An egg that has the small end elevated may cause the embryo to be disoriented with the head toward the small end. In the disoriented position, the chick is likely to drown on pipping. Therefore, it is very important that in general, the large end of your eggs should be slightly higher than the small ends; or as they then would lie naturally on a flat surface.


Egg Turning

Turning is essential during the first 14 days of egg incubation and should be continued until three days prior to the eggs expected hatch day. If you are hand turning, always turn the eggs at uneven number times a day, so the eggs do not spent two nights in a row in the same position to prevent overheating and abnormalities. If the egg is not turned to a fresh position frequently during the eggs early stages, the developing embryo touches the shell membrane and sticks to it causing abnormal growth. Turning the egg aids these movements within the egg, and mimics what a mother hen would do naturally.


What to do With Hatched Chickens

After the chick hatches allow it to dry off and fluff up in your egg incubator before removing it to a brooder. Newly hatched chicks can survive for up to 3 days on the yolk they absorb during the egg hatching process, but once you put them in the brooder make sure there is enough food and water for them available after a day or two.

Feeding Baby Chicks

Feed and water must be available at all times from the time they are out of the incubator. Do not dole out a measured daily ration. Do not let feed or water run out! Chicks need to be fed a chick starter. Medicated chick starter can be fed to help prevent Coccidiosis. Please know that chicks that are fed a medicated starter may still get coccidiosis. The medicine in the feed only help prevent it.

Prevent Drowning

Water receptacles can be very dangerous for your baby birds during their first week. Chicks are very clumsy and can easily fall into water dishes and drown. A common device to prevent drowning is to use a shallow water cup with marbles set in the water over the entire drinking area. The chicks will drink in the spaces between the marbles.

any suggestions for something to use for baby quail to drink from? I purchased ashtrays and smooth large pebbles from the dollar store for baby chicks but they seem to tall for the baby quail.

okdogpatch wrote:
Have you tried the water nipples? We have some in our store that I think may work.

I wrote an article on how you can setup a waterer for chickens and I think these nipples will work for your quail. Chicken waterer!

Those are great tips. I also wanted to add a couple of tips:

Check the accuracy on your thermometer. Some can vary by as much as 4 degrees so that your chicks may be at an improper temperature for proper incubation. I prefer a mercury bulb thermometer, but still use 2 in my incubator during the entire time I have eggs in there.

Don't rely on the reading of one hygrometer. The hygrometer on the outside of my incubator reads the same as my secondary one until it hits 50% humidity. However, at hatching, you need to have higher humidity. I drowned some chicks during the hatch because I trusted the reading and I raised the humidity too high. If your glass on the inside of your incubator is foggy or has condensation / beads of water, your humidity is too high.

If your incubator has a heater at the bottom near the eggs, don't put any eggs in the spaces right next to it unless you have to. These places have a tendency to run a little hotter.

Put pebbles or rocks in the bottom of your incubator. These will absorb some heat so that when you open the incubator to candle the eggs or if your power goes out, the incubator won't cool down as quickly.

When you put the eggs in lockdown, put a paper towel on the incubator floor. This will help keep the chick from getting sply-leg from slipping on slick surfaces once they hatch. I also go ahead and put a shallow lid with some water (and marbles so they don't drown)and some food crumbles on the paper towel so that if there are any early hatchers they will have some food already there (they can go 3 days without because of the yolk sack they absorbed, but I even spoil my baby chicks lol).

Resist the urge to open the incubator and help the chick out of the shell. It can take 24 hours or more sometimes for a chick to go from internal pip to hatch.

If you plan on giving your chicks to a broody hen, it's best to do it within the first three days. The chicks bond to the broody better the younger you can give them to the mom.

Do be prepared for some heartbreak. Unfortunately, sometimes all the chicks don't make it and it's very disheartening. It's happened to me, and I've learned a lot through my hatching experiences. Good luck!