Tips for Buying and Hatching Eggs

Raising chickens from eggs can be both challenging and rewarding. Eggs require constant attention, temperature and humidity maintenance, and, even then, hatching is not guaranteed. For many people, the benefits of raising your own chickens, whether to sell for profit or to raise for food or your own fresh eggs, ultimately outweigh the constant attention hatching eggs requires.

  1. Purchasing

    • Eggs can be purchased from a wide variety of sources. Local sources include farms, country auction houses and livestock sale barns. Hatching eggs also can be purchased online through private suppliers' websites, and even through auction sites such as eBay. Most egg resources that offer egg shipping do not guarantee hatching results because of the risk of shaking and uncontrolled incubation conditions during shipping.

    Amount

    • Experts recommend starting with no fewer than six eggs. Hatching success is not 100 percent guaranteed, particularly when you are new to the incubating process. If you begin with fewer eggs, your hatch rate may be poor or nonexistent. This result is particularly true of eggs purchased from a far away supplier and shipped to you; estimates say your hatch rate decreases by 5 percent on every 24 hours after the first week when the egg was laid. This statistic also is important because most fowls are flock animals, which need companionship to survive; a singly hatched chick may die of loneliness.

    Incubation

    • Chicks take about 21 days to hatch. This time period may be extended for eggs that are older or that were allowed to cool too much. During incubation, the eggs must be turned regularly; some incubators complete this process for you. If you are using a manual incubator, you must turn the eggs yourself several times a day. Humidity and temperature must be kept at a constant rate (99 to 102 degrees F, and 50 to 55 percent humidity), and not placed in sunlight. Any egg that starts to smell should be removed from the incubator immediately, as it is spoiled and may burst.

      Due to the constant attention incubators require, some people prefer to purchase a hen to incubate their eggs naturally.

    Hatching

    • Never attempt to help a chick emerge from his shell. The actual hatching process can be a lengthy one (sometimes as long as 24 hours), and external interference can cause the chick to bleed to death. Maintain the warm, humid atmosphere in the incubator until all the chicks have safely hatched.