Hatching Eggs Guide

Thinking of purchasing some fertilised eggs to hatch out your own chicks? At the Heritage Farm, we want you to have the highest chance of success with your hatchings as possible. That is why we have created this short guide which should hopefully help you maximise your chances of a successful hatch.

What is a successful hatch rate?
Typically, people that get a 50% hatch rate will often call that a success. More than 50% is considered a bonus! Although the eggs must be fertile to start with, you control many factors that will either contribute to a successful hatch or will negatively impact your hatchings.

What do you need to have for a good hatch rate?

• Fertilised eggs. This is the obvious one. It is also the one factor out of your control and difficult to confirm when buying eggs online. However, there are a couple of things you can look for before you buy. Does the seller give any information on the hen to cockerel ratio? Do they provide details or even photographs of their own successful hatchings? Here at The Heritage Farm, we try to keep our hen to cockerel ratio relatively low. Currently, we have 1 cockerel to approximately 4 hens. This gives our eggs a brilliant chance of being fertile. We also regularly set our eggs in our incubator to test their fertility.
• A sterilised and working incubator. There are many incubators available to buy, some cheap and some very expensive. To have a successful hatch, you do not need to buy the most expensive. However, bear in mind that a cheaper incubator will likely mean you will need to do more things with the eggs for a good hatch. A more expensive incubator will likely have preset automated settings minimising your involvement. The more well-known brands include Brinsea and R-com. We have used both in the past, and we currently have the Rcom 50 Pro digital incubator. 
• Maintain accurate temperature and humidity throughout the incubation. The temperature range should always be between 37.5C -37.6C for chicken eggs. Always check your incubator temperature gauge to ensure that the temperature never drops below this optimal range. Humidity should be between 50% and 55% for days 1-18 and then raised to 60% for days 19-21.  Always ensure the water reservoir is topped up to maintain the correct humidity at all time.
• Eggs regularly turned throughout incubation up to day 18. The eggs need to be physically turned at least three times each day. This is crucial for the successful development of the chick. If you are turning the eggs manually, we always suggest you gently mark with a pencil (never a pen) a dot on one side. Then you will know more clearly without opening the incubator if the eggs have been turned. Many incubators will have a setting that can turn the eggs for you, which is very useful and minimises the need for extra handling. 
• Only open the incubator to candle the eggs, or when absolutely necessary! Every time you open the incubator lid, you will let the heat and the humidity escape, and this can affect your success of a successful hatch. So only open the incubator when it is necessary to do so, for example, when candling your eggs. If either temperature or humidity drops significantly during incubation, it can have a detrimental effect on your hatchings.   We typically candle only twice during incubation.  Firstly to identify any empty eggs and remove them, and secondly, to identify if any fertilised eggs have stopped developing.  Resist the urge to fiddle!  The more handling, the greater the risk of reducing your hatch rate.