21 Days: From Eggs to Chicks

I have been daydreaming of incubating a batch of baby chicks for about a year now. Gavin got his first flock of chickens last Spring and it’s been true love ever since. We all love the chickens but I am, by far, the most obsessed.

I grew up on a self sustaining farm and chickens were a part of our daily life. I had memories of my mom filling this great big our metal incubator with eggs. I don’t remember much more about it other than the fact that it was kept on top of our dryer in our bathroom and I remember mom turning the eggs.
I asked my Dad about this old incubator and he said that most of my moms attempts at hatching chicks turned out to be a failure because somewhere with the 21 day incubation period, we would have a power outage and the eggs would get too cool and the chicks (still in the eggs would die).
Mom said there were a few times over the years that she did have some successful hatches.

The final occurrence that finally pushed me into getting this incubator going was the loss of one of our favorite hens! Boots. She was only about a year old. We believe that she got suffocated. I had set up some old milk cans on their sides in the coop for the broody hens to nest in (just like I remember mom doing) and too many piled in them. She was a small chicken and things didn’t turn out well for her on that particular May 26th day.

After 5 minutes after finding her dead, the thought came to me to get that incubator out that I had been thinking so much about, and get hatching some chicks. Being as chicken obsessed as I am, I know exactly what eggs all of my favorite hens lay. I ran to the house to check in the couple dozen that we had not sold yet to retrieve the eggs that my little Boots had laid over the last couple days. There were two! That was the least I could do! Try to hatch out ‘lil baby Boots eggs!

This incubator has been stored in the garage of a neighbors for years. He borrowed it some time ago to hatch out some pheasant eggs. I had not seen this unit since I was a kid so when I went to get it from the neighbor it was quite the experience to see if again! I had not seen it in over 20 years. Damn, that makes me sound old! I’m only 34, people!

When I got it home, I started to research the make and model of it. Turns out that it’s from the 1930′s. I knew it was old when I was a kid. Dad does not remember where he got it, but it still works like new! I am forever amazed at how well things were made back then. They were made to last. I am so not excited about this “consumer economy” that we have going on these days.

I plugged the unit in that evening and left it on overnight to see if it was going to hold a steady temperature before I got my hopes up too high. When I checked it in the morning, it was warm. Just a bit under what I needed it to be, so I turned the dial up and it warmed right up!

So, I launched it up on top of my food dehydrator, Dolly, and wiped it down. Dolly said it was fine to use her for a table for this project! After all, she’s totally into this whole self sustaining, hippy lifestyle!

And so, the process begins…follow along for the 21 day journey and beyond of my boys and I caring for and loving these eggs right into hatching…I’m smiling just thinking about it!

 

Day 2
Wednesday, May 28th
21 Days: From Eggs to Chicks
I decided the evening of night 1 that it would be really exciting to add some eggs in the incubator from my friends flocks as well! They both had roosters with their hens so all I had to do was convince them to part with some of their eggs to add an even bigger variety of chicken breeds to my new little hatch out project! Jaye gave up a dozen of her eggs and Kelly gave us two. Her hens are only laying two a day right now so we traded two of our eggs for two of hers! We now have a total of 40 eggs in the incubator! Should be a great variety indeed!

 

Day 3
Thursday, May 29th
21 Days: From Eggs to Chicks
We got two eggs from Kelly’s hens today and added them to the incubator for a total of 40!

 

Day 4
Friday, May 30th
21 Days: From Eggs to Chicks
Right around Day 3 and 4 the cardiac structure of the chick starts to beat! How amazing! On the very first day it is important that you mark your eggs with the date that you put them in so you know when they are expected to hatch! Also, we marked our eggs that were from our friends flocks so we know what chicks came from their flock!

 

Day 5
Saturday, May 31st
21 Days: From Eggs to Chicks
Flippin’ the eggs!! Well, not exactly…we have been gently turning the eggs and that has been something that we have been doing daily since Day 1. The eggs must be turned at least once per day to prevent the embryos from sticking to the inside of the shell. If that happens, development will not be able to take place. Eggs should be turned an odd number of times per day. So, either 1 or 3 times daily. Doing so ensures that they will not be on the same side two nights in a row. On day one when we marked the dates on our eggs, we also marked an X and an O on each egg to help keep track of turning each and every egg!

 

Day 7 of 21 Days: From Eggs to Chicks
Monday, June 2nd
Humidity levels while hatching.
This is something else that needs monitored as well when incubating chicks. I purchased a hygrometer so I can easily check the levels every time I open the incubator to turn the eggs.
The first 18 days of incubation the humidity level should be around 45 to 50%. The last few days you want to keep it around 65%. To keep the levels where they should be, I placed two small dishes of water in the incubator and they just evaporate. I also keep a small mist bottle of water in the unit and if the level falls too low, I have that warm water to spray in the incubator. The level is staying right where it needs to be right now by just keeping the bowls of water filled up but the last few days I will be misting more water in the incubator.

 

Day 8 of 21 Days: From Eggs to Chicks
Tuesday, June 3rd
YAY! About one third of the way to baby chicks already!
So, Its just so crazy what these critters are looking like already. Eye pigmentation has become really visible. The beak’s upper and lower parts have separated. And so have the wings and legs. The brain is completely settled into its cavity. I would not call them “cute” yet, but its getting close!

 

Day 9 of 21 Days: From Eggs to Chicks
Wednesday, June 4th
As I was turning eggs this afternoon I was noticing a bit of change in the weight of the egg. They seemed to feel a bit lighter. And perfectly so…
The egg shell is permeable to air and moisture. Water evaporates as the chick develops. The inner lining of the egg eventually draws back so as to increase the amount of air in the shell. The chick then has air to breathe in the time immediately before the hatch. Development can be checked with a gradual decrease in weight as the hatch gets nearer.

 

Day 10 of 21 Days: From Eggs to Chicks
Thursday, June 5th

Just about to the half way point!!! How exciting! Something interesting and exciting begins to happen right around day 10! The embryos will begin producing their own body heat, therefore its essential to really keep an eye on the temperature in the incubator at this point. You may need to adjust the thermostat at this point to maintain the correct temperature range for hatching chicks.

 

Day 13 of 21 Days: From Eggs to Chicks
Sunday, June 8th
I think today has been the most exciting day so for in this process! I decided to candle some of the eggs! I candled about 15 to 18 of the eggs and all but one of them had chicks growing in them!!!! How exciting! The two eggs that I checked first were the two eggs that inspired me to get this whole project underway! My sweet Boots eggs! They have baby Boots in them! Now hoping they are hens! So, when candling the eggs, you not only can see the chicks but you can see them moving and their hearts beating. When putting the light to the egg, the chicks move, trying to turn away from the light. Some of the eggs with thicker or darker shells are hard to see through but the thinner and lighter shells allow for better light flow! I was bubbling over with excitement after doing this and will probably be checking these out over the next several days!

 

Day 14 of 21 Days: From Eggs to Chicks
Monday, June 9th

ONLY one week left before the chicks start pipping through their shells! Its time for us to start getting things ready for them! They will need to go in a brooder after they hatch out and are dried off. They will need a special diet and water at all times. More on that in the coming days but we purchased a bag of chick starter in preparation for their arrival! SOON!

 

Day 15 of 21 Days: From Eggs to Chicks
Tuesday, June 10th
The chicks down continues to grow. The egg white is almost all gone by this point. The chick is starting to feel in “tight quarters”. The head moves toward the pipping position, under the right wing. The eggs only have two more left to be turning. Then its time to leave them be and also time to up the humidity level in the incubator.

 

Day 16 of 21 Days: From Eggs to Chicks
Wednesday, June 11th

Soon it will be time to stop turning the eggs. So, is there a way they need to be laying before hatching? Well, yes and no. They can hatch out just fine no matter what side they end up laying on BUT if you lay them a certain way it can help with their hatching our process by an hour or two. So, I have been candling the eggs to see where the air bubble is located. I then make a mark on the egg at the lowest level of the air bubble and then lay it with that side up! They are ready for hatching!!!!

 

Day 17 of 21 Days: From Eggs to Chicks
Thursday, June 12th
Today is the last day of turning the eggs!!! After today, the eggs go on “Lockdown”. The incubator should be opened as little as possible and the humidity should be upped to around 65%. We have noticed the last couple of days that some of the eggs are rolling on their own! The chicks are moving so much in the eggs that they are rolling around! BABIES SOON!!!

 

Day 18 of 21 Days: From Eggs to Chicks
Friday, June 13th
So today is the day that the eggs will no longer be turned and we up the humidity level to 60 to 65%. I added two more small dishes of water in the incubator for a total of 4 dishes and that seems to be perfect. Holding the humidity at 65%! We are so excited and having a hard time not peeking at the eggs!

 

Day 19 of 21 Days: From Eggs to Chicks
Saturday, June14th
Checked the humidity level several times today to be sure it was around 65%. Was a bit low so I added a wet washcloth in the incubator and it got it right up where it needed to be!

 

Day 20 of 21 Days: From Eggs to Chicks
Sunday, June 15th
I borrowed a brooder set up from my friend Kelly. My dad and I went to her house to pick it up. We are setting it up in the garage. At least that’s the plan. This day we are finalizing the last few touches because the chicks will be coming just about any time now! They should start their hatch process tomorrow!

 

Day 21! Baby chicks!!!