Keeping chickens and ensuring they hatch is a difficult task to achieve and requires the right equipment. You can easily place the eggs on hay in a cardboard box then add a wet wash cloth and a heat lamp hanging over the eggs from a shelf.
You can also place a thermometer in the hay to monitor things and set an alarm for every six hours to turn the eggs. You will be required to lift the light higher when to warm and lower it when to cool.
Yet the majority of eggs sold in supermarkets are not fertile and cannot be hatched. Fertile eggs must be ordered from specialist hatcheries or from poultry farmers who have roosters in their flocks. Please check with potential suppliers well in advance.
For the ideal hatching egg, it should be incubated within one week to 10 days after they are laid. How they hatch depends on incubation. And until they are incubated, hatching eggs should be stored in cartons or cases - large end up - at around 40 to 70 degrees F. There should be a relative humidity of about 75 per cent.
If the eggs are to be stored for more than two to three days before they are incubated, their positions should be altered each day to lower the tendency for the yolks to stick to the shells. You need to firstly start by propping up one end of the case or carton; each day, change the position of the block, or turn the container end for end. If you can have your eggs supplied within one or two days before you incubate, you eliminate the need for these procedures.
The location of the incubator is also critical. In order to aid your incubator maintain a constant temperature, place it where it will receive as little temperature fluctuation as possible. Do not place it near a window where it will be exposed to direct sunlight because the heat of the sun can increase the temperature high enough to kill the developing embryos.
You can also place a thermometer in the hay to monitor things and set an alarm for every six hours to turn the eggs. You will be required to lift the light higher when to warm and lower it when to cool.
Yet the majority of eggs sold in supermarkets are not fertile and cannot be hatched. Fertile eggs must be ordered from specialist hatcheries or from poultry farmers who have roosters in their flocks. Please check with potential suppliers well in advance.
For the ideal hatching egg, it should be incubated within one week to 10 days after they are laid. How they hatch depends on incubation. And until they are incubated, hatching eggs should be stored in cartons or cases - large end up - at around 40 to 70 degrees F. There should be a relative humidity of about 75 per cent.
If the eggs are to be stored for more than two to three days before they are incubated, their positions should be altered each day to lower the tendency for the yolks to stick to the shells. You need to firstly start by propping up one end of the case or carton; each day, change the position of the block, or turn the container end for end. If you can have your eggs supplied within one or two days before you incubate, you eliminate the need for these procedures.
The location of the incubator is also critical. In order to aid your incubator maintain a constant temperature, place it where it will receive as little temperature fluctuation as possible. Do not place it near a window where it will be exposed to direct sunlight because the heat of the sun can increase the temperature high enough to kill the developing embryos.
