Given
we have hatched a few chicks out over the last week, we felt I should blog
about incubating and hatching; as it’s been quite a while since we discussed
it.
Now
we are not experts and are only able to comment from our own research and
experience. Always feel it is necessary to stress this, as I am sure there
others that would do things differently, or have had different experiences/
outcomes. Especially as we do this on a small scale using fairly
cheap/accessible equipment.
Previously
we had compared the results and operation of ours to that of a borrowed and
more ‘advanced’ (though older) incubator (that belonged to a friend); leant to
us as we had excess eggs to incubate.
To be
honest our simple system suits us fine.
Anyway,
starting from the beginning (and no we do not wish to debate which came
first!). This may seem like an obvious point; however we do regularly get asked
whether you need a rooster to get eggs and/or chicks. So just to clear up any
misconceptions- hens on their own will still produce eggs, however they will
never be fertile. Therefore you need a working rooster/ cockerel in with your
desired mother hens to (hopefully) produce fertile eggs.
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| Generally free ranging our Indian Games are penned when the girls are laying |
So
how do you know a cockerel/rooster is ‘working’… to be honest other than
witnessing them in action (and some are more discrete than others) the only
true answer would be to incubate the eggs. However in theory if their crowing,
then they should be capable to ‘working’. Although in fairness our current
Light Sussex rooster was working well before either of us saw him in action or
heard him crow. As such we had not incubated any eggs from the girls, one hen
actually sat and hatched out a couple of chicks, proving he was in fact
‘working’. But he has been the only one we have had that has been that discrete
and quiet.
Another
sign that the cockerel/rooster is working would be war marks on the hens. Some
males can be quite rough on the girls. And as a result the girls may have less
or thinning of the feathers on their back, even bald patches around the back of
the neck and occasionally a few missing tail feathers.
Not
to get too side tracked, the main factor is you either some laying hens that
have a rooster in their flock or you need to source ‘fertile eggs’. We have
been asked to sell fertile eggs in the past, but to be truly honest neither of
us are completely comfortable in doing this. Only because we’re hoping they are
fertile, given they have been collected from hens running with a rooster. Not
because we have any way of guaranteeing that they are in fact fertile.
There’s
a really good blog about the myths of fertile/in-fertile and
incubated/non-incubated eggs, that explains a lot of the common misconceptions.
If
you are collecting your own eggs this may take a few days, depending on the
size of your flock and their laying rate. Many laying breeds will lay daily, given
they are not moulting , broody or affected by the weather. Naturally a hen may
lay 10-12 eggs before ‘sitting’, though I have had young girls sit on as few as
3. So the first egg they lay could be 10+ days older than the last. Personally
we only collect for up to a week at a time, though generally we try to set our
eggs within 5 days. Only because the blastoderm (fertilised point within the egg) [non- fertilised
would be hens genetics only and is called a blastodisc] is suspended awaiting
the right conditions to develop into an embryo, and eventually a chick. This
genetic material will have a shelf life, as does the rest of the egg. So we try
and set them as soon as possible.
Remember a fertilised egg will still never be a chick unless it is
set under the correct conditions (under a hen or in an incubator), so are
perfectly good for eating.
When collecting your eggs we once read (and don’t ask me where)
that the eggs are best stored point down. We also write on our eggs using permanent
marker what kind of chick/chicken it is or is from. And once they are ready to
set we also add the date.
We have had comments regarding this, it is not ideal to plaster
your egg in graffiti as the shell itself is porous and any chemicals etc used
on the outside could affect the developing chick. In the same way that dirty
eggs are not ideal for the same reason; and if you’ve ever kept chickens you
will learn that some are naturally cleaner than others! (this does not seem to
be a breed thing, its individual). So brush off as much ‘dirt’ or other
contaminants as possible, but do not clean the egg. At most I have used a clean
cloth and dampened it with warm water, then immediately dried the exterior; as
water will also affect the egg… So best to do as little to the egg as possible.
Also store your eggs in a cool dry place, not more than 25°c, else you could start the
process. We have successfully incubated refrigerated eggs before (though only
as an experiment) and this does appear to affect the rate of successful
incubations... so refrigerated eggs is not ideal. (Please do not try incubating
eggs in your fridge as they are likely to be older and not to be fertile to
start with- as egg producing farms do not require their eggs to be fertile, and
therefore would not have a rooster with them to start with).
Either
way once you have collected or received your eggs you will need to set up an
incubator. Ours is a simple 48 egg (max capacity) unit, with a temperature dial
and the humidity is controlled by the amount of water in the base.
As I
mentioned earlier we have tried another model that had digital temperature settings
along with humidity controls. However we found that we were studying it too
much. And I know others that have had mixed results with these set ups and
think it’s probably from fussing or fiddling too much. The more you can change,
the more we would. But we have had pretty good results with our basic system,
so we’re not complaining.
We
generally clean ours and like to sterilise it before use using Breathe ezy, a
form of stabilised chlorine dioxide that is used in the poultry industry and is
water soluble. (But this is purely personal) Once clean we set the unit to
temperature and pour warm water in the base. This is then run for a day to warm
up. We check the internal temperature using a digital thermometer over an hour
or so to ensure it is maintaining temperature. Ideally it should be between
37°c & 38°c for chickens.
It
would also be an idea to let your eggs rest at room temperature whilst the
incubator is warming up, especially if your eggs have been shipped- this will
allow for the contents to settle.
Now
with this level of basic you do have to perform some tasks that an automated
system would do for you; such as turning the eggs. This needs to be done from
day 3 (first 2 days they are o be left alone) and then to not be turned for the
last 2. In theory a chicken egg takes 21 days to incubate (turkeys and most ducks
take 28 days and Muscovy ducks and geese 35); though the temperature and
humidity levels can affect this also. In our experience we usually see some
movement, evidence of hatching on the 20th day and most/ all are our
by the end of day 21.
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| Easier if they are all due the same day, but not always possible |
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| Very basic controls |
A hen
would naturally rotate the eggs throughout the day, so that the embryo develops
in a suspended position and doesn’t become stuck to either side. We turn ours
morning and evening; when we have eggs set this just becomes part of the
routine. So the incubator is set up in an accessible place, ours is on our
kitchen bench. That way it is visible and will jog your memory… as they saying
goes “out of sight, out of mind”. You
also need to monitor the water levels, top us with warm water to maintain the
humidity level. Both temperature and humidity will fluctuate according to the
external environment. In winter the unit may have to work harder to maintain
the temperature, whereas summer months the humidity maybe higher.
So
once your eggs are set, we are back to the subject of fertility, or at least
successful incubation. After 5-7 days it is possible to “candle” the eggs.
(this is easier with some eggs than others- ducks for example have a more
opaque shell, where chickens and turkeys can be quite translucent). Candling
involves placing a light (torch etc) onto the eggs surface in a darkened space.
So that light passes through, illuminating the internal form- if any. An
unsuccessful incubation (or possibly non-fertile egg) will have a distinct
fluid form and the yolk will be visible. A successful fertilisation and
incubation will have evidence of a solid or evidence of a dense form, not fluid
and possibly even visible veins. As the incubation progresses the form will
become more opaque, eventually creating a shadow within most of the egg,
allowing for an air sac at one end.
We
remove all the unsuccessful eggs, as this allows for room to set more. If left
to sit, birds appear to be able to tell if incubation was successful also. As
they will systematically discard eggs as the incubation progresses; allowing
them to concentrate on the potential young.
So
you have turned your eggs til the 18/19th day and you are now
waiting for the chicks to hatch. Again as the saying goes “don’t count your
chickens before they’ve hatched” and this couldn’t be more true. Even with
successful fertilisation and incubation, this does not mean you are guaranteed
chicks. These little ones have quite a traumatic and exhausting beginning to
their lives, and not all make it.
You
may hear chirping and tapping from inside the egg and even see the egg
moving/rocking. This is normal and the chick inside is making a break for it.
You may see a circular form appear, with a crack of 2 across it. Under which
there is a break in the membrane allowing the chick t breath. Once they are
strong enough (as this process can take a day or more), they will gradually
chip their way around the end until they pop their way out… so yes they do
crack the top off like the cartoon imagery suggests.
It is
very tempting to ‘help’ the young birds out, but you have to be careful if you
do decide to do this. As if you tear the membrane it can and therefore the
chick will bleed out. On the other hand exhausted chicks may become dried and
not survive either. We will flick away the broken shell from the initial break
through, insuring the membrane has been broken (so the little one can breathe).
But then try not to interfere too much.
Once
out these wet alien looking forms may have a small sack or even the other part
of the egg attached- leave this alone! They will detach naturally and absorb
the remaining sack. They then need to remain in the incubator until they are
completely dry and fluffy- 24-48hours. They do not need to eat/drink during
this time (that’s what the remaining sack is absorbed for).
So
what do you do with them next?
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| Our first day old chicks (bought) in our make-shift brooder (i.e. cardboard box) |
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| recently replaced back of wardrobe |
They
still need to be kept in a warm, controlled environment. Naturally the mother
hen would perform this duty by keeping them in under her wing (or general body
feathers). We mimic these conditions by placing them in a brooder box. Ours is
constructed from an old wardrobe we have in the shed. That can be divided into
numerous compartments, to accommodate a number of varying stages of chicks. But
a simple cardboard box would suffice. Within your brooder box you will need to
line the base (usually newspaper and saw dust), they will need access to water
and food- we use this opportunity to treat our chicks for works and coccidious
(these are just precautionary- it's a disease generally associated with intense breeding, as its passed through faeces. Not nice and can be fatal in young birds... so just in case) and the feed needs to be fine milled (or you can
buy specific chick crumble- this will be high in protein and have a dose of the
relevant medications already in it). Then you will need a means of maintaining
the temperature- so we use a light and have a digital thermometer to monitor.
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| Wardrobe brooder with new light, mesh lid and thermometer |
We
had to replace our light this week. Our previous lamp was a simple bulb plugged
into a mains supply, with a lamp shade- bought from discount table at the local
hardware store about 3 years ago; this finally gave up the ghost. So this time
we bought a mains supply light, meant for use as an outdoor light. Our other
light we use is a work light. The only
problem with this one and the old lamp is that during the last 3 years the laws
here in Australia have changed and all interior bulbs have to be ‘energy efficient’.
This is great, except we were using the lights for their heat (a bi-product of
the light itself and the most energy inefficient part). Therefore interior
bulbs no longer generate the same level of heat that they used to. Hence the
change to flood light style bulb, that in themselves are a bit more pricey, but
the lower wattage bulbs (after all we don’t want to fry them!) will still
produce the heat we require.
This
light is fitted to one end of the box. This allows the chicks to move away or
towards the light, depending on the time of day. Fitting the bulb to one end of
the box also allows us to either open up or divide our wardrobe set up into
sections. So as the birds get bigger and develop feathers (and can maintain
their own body temperature) we can give them more space. But if we have a
number of birds at various ages/stages we mount the second light (our work
lamp) and move he slightly older birds into this section (as they will require
less heat from the lamp).
Once
you have your box with lamp be aware of your positioning of food and water. As
you don’t want these under the lamps direct light. But you also want to allow
for some space free away from it also. As you don’t want the chicks to huddle
or congregate too close to the water, in particular. Like I said they will do
this to get warm or cooler and they may fall asleep in the water… it has been
known.
I
would also advise you don’t scatter too much in the way of saw dust/shavings
near the water, so you will forever need to scrape it from the base. We also
avoid using waterers with deep lips for the younger birds. Having lost a turkey
poult this way in the past. Other suggest putting marbles of small pebbles in
the bases to weight it down and prevent the water being too deep. I’m just not
sure about placing foreign object too close to young birds, but if their large
enough that they will not swallow them, then this shouldn’t hurt.
Depending
on the time of year and you climate, the chicks will need to remain inside for
a good few weeks; definitely until they develop their proper feathers. And in
the colder months I have been known to place a work lamp in their outdoor hutch
at night for the first week or so. But then comes the fun time of transitioning
them to their outdoor lifestyle.
