8 guidelines to successful egg hatching

Hatching chicken eggs is such a fun and rewarding experience. However, it can also be stressful! There’s nothing more heart-breaking than waiting a full 21 days only to experience a failed hatch. Believe me, I’ve been there!

I’ve hatched hundreds of chicks over the years and in this article, I’m going to share all of my best tips when it comes to hatching chicken eggs. Follow my key steps and you’ll have happy, healthy chicks peeping in the incubator before you know it!

Let’s jump in!

1. Collect clean eggs from healthy, nourished breeding stock feeding on a good breeder diet. Avoid eggs from breeders feeding on ‘makireshi,’ layers mash and single grains. Do not clean eggs or contact them with oil.

2. Breeding stock must always be fed with a daily dose of greens, black-jack, chick weed, and veggies etc. to supplement their diet.

3. Maintain a cock to hen ratio of 1:5 to produce highly fertile eggs. Avoid related cocks and hens as these usually produce lame chicks.

4. Store eggs pointed end downwards, in a cool, dry and humid place to avoid dehydration of eggs. Never let stored eggs reach a temperature of 32°C as they will start the incubation process. Storing eggs with smooth end downwards leads to air membrane breakage. This can also be caused by vigorous shaking of eggs.

5. Store eggs for less than 10 days. The longer they stay the less likely to Hatch.

6. Prior to egg incubation, pre-candle eggs in a dark room using a bright phone torch to remove any cracked, malformed, dehydrated and partially developed eggs as these will not hatch.

7. Mark your eggs using preferably pencil on the side of the egg. Avoid writing on top of the egg, it is where they breathe from.

8. Take great care during transportation of eggs to avoid heating, excessive shaking and breakages.

This is where we will be ending our discussion for today.

Do you have any questions or other forms of contributions, kindly use the comment section below for all your contributions.

You are also encouraged to kindly share this information with your loved ones you feel might benefit from it as we cannot reach everyone at the same time.

Thank you!!

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