How to Hatch Chicks

If you're lucky, you have a hen that will handle egg-hatching duties. Otherwise, an incubator will do. Here are the basics on both hatching methods.

Things You'll Need

  • Chicken Coops
  • Chicken Feed
  • Chicken Feeders
  • Chicken Waterers
  • Hatching Eggs
  • Hen Nesting Boxes
  • Egg Incubators
  • Chicken Dusting Powder
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Instructions

  1. Hatch with a Broody Hen

    • 1

      Prepare the nest with lots of bedding in a quiet, dark area of the shelter.

    • 2

      Place eggs (8 to 10) under the hen or in the nest when she's feeding.

    • 3

      Check to see if she's going to "set" eggs. Remove her a few times and see if she returns to nest.

    • 4

      Provide feed and water close to the nest.

    • 5

      Separate her from the other hens if there seems to be a fight over the nest.

    Incubate Eggs

    • 6

      Gather eggs from a flock of hens with a rooster in the pen with them. It takes one rooster to every ten hens to produce fertile eggs.

    • 7

      Store eggs in a place that's between 50 and 75 degrees F until they're placed in the incubator.

    • 8

      Read the incubator instructions and follow its guidelines.

    • 9

      Keep the incubator indoors where it's easy to maintain.

    • 10

      Start the incubator a few days before you place eggs in it in order to adjust the temperature, humidity and airflow.

    • 11

      Place an "X" with a pencil lightly on one side of egg. This will tell you if you have turned the egg.

    • 12

      Turn eggs at least two to three times a day for the first 18 days. Do not turn them the last three days of incubation.

    • 13

      Test for infertile eggs by "candling" the eggs.

    • 14

      Clean and disinfect the incubator after all the eggs have hatched.