Well! Who came first, the chicken or the egg? The answer to this simple question is still a question mark? Chickens are natural incubation experts, but many new breeders find out that utilizing an incubator at home helps them to have more control over their hatch, leading to higher hatch rates than nature provides. Friends! Whether you’re looking to grow your own flock or planning to sell your chicks, using an incubator at home will definitely help you to expand your hatching session and is a great learning experience for kids as well.
Sudden death refers to the death of a particular chicken or any group of chickens without any apparent cause at the time. Later, the cause of death may be established by necropsy. Here listed are the basic and Main Causes of Sudden Death in Chickens, they may be accompanied by constitutional symptoms such as lethargy, loss of appetite, diarrhea, etc.
Today, in this post we share a few expert tips for incubating chicken eggs at home and the pros on how to best handle them. In other words, incubating chicken eggs is a rewarding experience that requires dedication, planning, flexibility, and observational skills. Get inspired from the following tips for incubating chicken eggs –
Expert Tips for Incubating Chicken Eggs at Home
1. Take good care of eggs before incubation!
When it comes to choosing the eggs, make sure you choose fertilized eggs with no imperfections and take good care of them. Remember, not to place the eggs immediately in the incubator just after receiving and avoid leaving the eggs unattended for not more than 7 days.
2. Choose the right Incubator!
Choosing the appropriate incubator really depends on how many eggs you are planning to hatch and how much money you are willing to spend on them. However, there are several features to look for a smart home incubator that makes your task a little easier, most important include – a fan to circulate air, an automatic egg turner and very powerful temperature control.
3. Preparing the eggs for Hatching!
This is among the most important expert tips for incubating chicken eggs at home. Never lay eggs directly into an incubator. They need a minimum of 24 hours to allow the yolks to settle and to reach room temperature. Besides this, turning the eggs inside the incubator is also quite necessary for better hatching. For the best results, you can mark ‘X’ on the one side and ‘Y’ on the other side, so that you know which side you turned last.
4. Placement of Incubator!
Location is extremely important! Look for a space in a room that maintains a constant temperature, must be away from the window and direct sunlight. Mostly, keeping the units indoors is appreciated to maintain uniform temperature and humidity.
5. Heat and Humidity is Key!
Maintaining the correct heat and humidity inside your incubator is another most important expert tips for incubating chicken eggs at home. To allow chicks to develop properly, make sure your incubator is equipped with an accurate thermometer and hygrometer. Don’t forget that outside environmental conditions will also affect both the temperature and humidity inside the incubator, so you need to assure that the incubator is kept in a temperature-controlled area.
6. Wash your hands before hatching eggs!
Always wash your hand thoroughly to prevent bacteria and oils onto the surface of the egg when turning eggs manually. Try placing the eggs into a cardboard egg carton with a pointed end down.
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7. Install flawless working Incubator!
You must organize a flawless working incubator, to avoid any damage to chicken eggs. In order to provide necessary heat inside the incubator, you can also place a few large size bulbs and also see that none of the pores are left open.
8. Ventilation!
You need to maintain the flow of air inside the incubator! When the embryo is developing, oxygen enters the egg through the shell and the carbon dioxide releases. But, when the egg is about to hatch they require an increased amount of fresh oxygen. So, care must be taken to maintain humidity during the incubation process.
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9. Be extra careful about Fumigation Process!
It’s something good to turn on when you feel cleaning is not done properly, eggs are dirty and the machine is filled with broken eggs. Yes, this is definitely an excellent expert tip when incubating chicken eggs at home. But, the fumigation process can prove harmful to the producer if not conducted with extra care.
10. Clean Up!
After all the chicks are hatched, make sure you clean and disinfect the incubator and all other parts. Wash it with a warm detergent solution or bleach and rinse thoroughly with a disinfecting solution. When dry, then only turn the unit on and bring it to the proper temperature and humidity conditions before the next use.
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From the above points, it’s very much clear that you don’t need any professional help for incubating chicken eggs, in fact, you can handle the entire thing on your own at home itself with careful attention and few special pieces of equipment. These expert tips for incubating chicken eggs at home are specifically designed to assure that the process goes as of right as possible for you. Believe me! I always use to say – I would never purchase an incubator, but now I have two and officially being tagged as ‘chicken addict’. Plus, the fun of hatching your own chicken eggs is actually like enjoying Christmas every day.