Hatching Chicken Eggs - Diy Guide

Hello,

Last year, for the first time..... I bought an automatic incubator for hatching eggs.

My pictures ---> How to hatch chicken eggs

 

my dad built one when when I very young. we had chickens. he had a light in it for the proper temp. and a bowl of water for moisture, and he turned the eggs as directed as the hen does. nothing automatic about it. It worked. and many chicks entered the world because of it. We helped to check and turn the eggs and keep the bowl of water full.

 

we have a little incubator! used it to hatch out many (way way too many tbh) Quail over the years i've been saying every year that im gonna get some chicken or duck eggs to hatch out in it and i sure will, one of these days, oh yes, just you wait and see, one of these days...just not today or tomorrow but soon! its gonna happen!

 

I've hatched both chicks and ducklings - ducklings are the messier, by far!
One of the ducklings I had to rescue from the incubator because the membrane had dried out and had effectively shrunk wrap around the duckling. This wasn't obvious from outside the shell and when I did discover it had to very carefully rehydrate the membrane and very careful, piece by tiny piece, remove the shell.

Very rewarding though

 

if we were going to go that direction with hatching etc. I'd try to hatch a couple peacocks also.

 

great idea!

 

I can see it now a couple pretty peacocks roaming around my pretty garden. Now that is a vision. And they are big enough that the cats would just wonder and slightly follow, but get put in their place if necessary by the peacocks.

 

Hi all, I don't want to be a party pooper BUT please check the deeds to your house before hatching chickens! Ours states 'no crowing cocks!' We are not allowed to have a cockerel here or hatch one by accident I've spoken to my solicitor & he said it's not worth the trouble.
I'd love to hatch some chicks, but I'm too concerned about upsetting the neighbours!

 

That is a good point @Beckie76
When I hatched chicks (under broodies and using an incubator) it just happened that the ratio of male to female was greater. But, you don't know that until a few weeks down the line and then I had to wait until the first attempt at crowing before I was totally certain. Luckily, the farm I bought my original girls from were happy to have the males as they were pure breeds (Sultan, Araucana, Buff Orpington, Silky Bantam and Polish Bantam).
I've not regrets at having tried it but I won't be doing it again any time soon - despite now being in a more rural location.

 

If you only get hens it will be very quiet. And hens do lay more without a rooster . Except they do cackle when they lay to announce their achievement.

 

ah i wouldn't mind the cackling, sure i've been known to myself occasionally, like when i get a particularly good recipe for the old cauldron ....or when leaping astride the broomstick