How to Incubate a Bird Egg

Incubating bird eggs takes special care, equipment and patience. The difficulty level for incubating bird eggs can vary widely depending on the type of bird you want to hatch. Whether you're incubating bird eggs for a school project or to save abandoned eggs that you found in a nest, you can do it by following these steps.

Things You'll Need

  • Incubator Monitoring equipment Brooder (optional) Small cups or pie pan (optional)
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Instructions

  1. Patience is Key with Incubating Bird Eggs

    • 1

      Choose the right incubator. Select a commercially available incubator based on its ability to control temperature, control humidity and rotate eggs. If your budget allows, consider purchasing a wooden incubator. Styrofoam incubators are cheaper, but they are less reliable.

    • 2

      Purchase and install temperature- and humidity-monitoring equipment for your incubator.

    • 3

      Turn on your incubator and stabilize the temperature and humidity for one or two weeks before placing the bird eggs inside.

    • 4

      Inspect the bird eggs for cracks or other blemishes. Place the eggs in the incubator, making sure they lie on a flat surface. The larger end of the egg should be naturally slightly higher than the pointed end.

    • 5

      Inspect your bird eggs after two to three days of incubation by holding the eggs up to a strong light and looking through the shells. This is called candling. Fertilized eggs will have a cloudy mass or spot inside, which is the embryo. If you don't see this, the egg is most likely unfertilized.

    • 6

      Rotate the eggs. How often you need to rotate the eggs depends on the type of bird. Chicken eggs need to be rotated three times each day, but you have to rotate macaw and other exotic bird eggs 90 degrees every hour. An incubator that can rotate the eggs for you is best, especially for exotic bird eggs that may need rotation more frequently.

    • 7

      Prepare for hatching three days before you expect it by increasing the humidity, reducing the temperature by one degree and ceasing rotation of the eggs. Allow the birds to hatch from their shells on their own. Leave the birds in the incubator for 24 hours after they hatch or move them to a brooder.