How to hatch chickens in an incubator: preparation, process, care ⋆ 👨‍🌾 Farmer-online ⋆

Growing chickens is very popular not only among farms, but also among cottage owners. This process is time consuming and begins with the hatching of the chicks in the incubator. This procedure is responsible, therefore, novice poultry houses, before laying incubation material, should take into account all the rules for selecting eggs and carry out subsequent control over the hatching of chicks.

Selection and storage of eggs

Recently, many poultry houses prefer to hatch chickens using an incubator, as this allows you to do without brood hens, getting chicks in any quantity and at any time of the year. In addition, if you hatch future hens in an incubator, you can significantly save money on buying day old chicks from the factory. The success of hatching chickens at home directly depends both on the experience and efforts of the owner, and on the quality of the incubation material. Therefore, before deciding on this process, it is necessary to pay special attention to the selection of eggs.

It should be noted that the breeding of chicks always begins with the control of the mother hen. You should first check her state of health – if the laying hen has genetic diseases, then in the future there may be problems with the development of chickens. The eggs themselves are carefully selected according to the following quality criteria.

No odor. If there is a putrid, pungent, grapey and moldy smell, then the material for incubation is not suitable.
Freshness. The shelf life of eggs that are planned to be laid in the incubator should not exceed 6-7 days.
Proper storage of samples. The collected eggs must be kept in rooms with a temperature regime of at least +12 C. Eggs stored in the refrigerator must be disposed of.
Correct form. Only oval-shaped samples that do not have recesses and outgrowths are suitable for bookmarking. Excessively elongated and spherical eggs are also subject to marriage.

Additionally, it is necessary to check the absence of signs of damage to the incubation material. To do this, the shell is carefully examined, and if dried spots, dirt, dents and cracks were noticed, such eggs are rejected. The spots usually appear under the shell due to the development of bacteria, they can have different sizes and shades. In addition, for bookmarking, experts recommend choosing samples weighing from 50 to 60 grams, since weak chickens will hatch from small ones, and two yolks may appear in large ones.

After the eggs are selected according to external signs, they proceed to the second stage of control, while the samples should never be wiped and washed. The check is carried out using a special device – an ovoscope, which shines through the egg well. During the candling process, it is necessary to find the air chamber and the yolk – it is usually located near the blunt end of the egg or in the very center.

Eggs are not allowed to be laid if the yolk is firmly attached to the inside of the shell.

As for the air chamber, it should be placed at the blunt end and have a volume the size of a teaspoon.

Process description

Incubation is a complex technological process that consists of certain stages, including the collection and transportation of incubation material, quality assessment, disinfection, incubation, transfer of eggs to hatchers and hatching of chicks, followed by monitoring their health. In the case when laying eggs in an incubator is carried out for the first time, then the poultry house must be well acquainted with the sequence of this process and carefully study the instructions for using the incubator.

In order to breed healthy chicks, the eggs are disinfected at the first stage of incubation and placed in a clean container. Disinfection is carried out with formaldehyde vapor several times: immediately after collecting the eggs from the chicken and before directly laying them in the incubator. They should also be transported correctly (when the incubation material is prepared for sale), in specially designed vehicles that do not have sudden temperature changes. There is little time for collecting and laying eggs – only 6-7 days. They must be stored all the time under certain conditions: at an air humidity of 75–80% and a temperature of +8 to +12 C.

Then the eggs are laid in the incubator; several schemes can be used for this.

All samples are simultaneously placed in the apparatus (there can be either 63 or 104 depending on the model of the incubator) with a pre-set heating schedule according to the temperature table. This home method is very convenient in that the chicks hatch at the same time, but they need help breaking through the shell.
Eggs are added individually to the incubator once every three days or a week. Previously laid samples begin to emit heat and perfectly heat the later ones. This is a universal, but time-consuming method.

If everything is done correctly, then at about 21 days of incubation, the first chicks can be expected to appear, after which they must be provided with appropriate care.

Device preparation

To hatch chickens at home, various models of domestic incubators are used, including the most common are “Ideal mother hen” and “Smart mother hen” (manufacturer – the company “Bagan”). This machine is a medium-sized box made of heat-insulating material with a maximum number of 120 eggs. Survival in these models is more than 90%, so they are a good substitute for automated farm incubators, designed for several thousand eggs. Before laying the incubation material, a preliminary preparation of the apparatus is carried out – if this is not done, then the entire batch may die.

Preparation includes two main stages.

Washing and disinfection. It is recommended to wash the incubator with a solution made from water and laundry soap. Additionally, a few drops of iodine are added to it. The resulting solution should carefully process all parts of the apparatus, and then dry it.
Checking the operation of all incubator systems. An empty apparatus must be turned on for several hours and see how its humidity and temperature sensors work. In addition, the operation of rotary mechanisms and time relays should be monitored.

Material bookmark

After the incubator is prepared for laying eggs, proceed to direct incubation. This is a rather time-consuming and complex process, which requires the following rules to be followed in order to obtain healthy chicks.

Cold eggs should not be placed in the incubator. Experts recommend placing the samples in a room with a temperature regime of +8 C 10–25 hours before laying. If the temperature regime is lower, the eggs will not have time to warm up and the embryo will begin to form incorrectly.
Bookmarking is desirable to carry out in the evening after 18 hours. This will allow you to get the first chicks early in the morning and subsequent ones throughout the day, which will facilitate their selection.
Eggs must be pre-sorted by size. First of all, the largest ones are laid out, after six hours – the medium ones, after another five hours – the smallest ones. Thanks to this, it will be possible to withdraw the entire batch at the same time.

Stages of chick formation

The chicken embryo goes through only four stages of development, each of which is characterized by the formation of internal organs and body parts of the future chick. At the same time, for each stage in the incubator, it is necessary to create special conditions that would correspond to natural ones, as when planting a brood hen. The formation of chickens by week is as follows.

First week. During this period, the embryo is laying the circulatory system, heart and all internal organs. Since the embryo does not have respiratory organs, it is still too early to ventilate the chamber; this must be done on the last day of the week. In addition, the first week it is necessary to turn all the eggs in turn every four hours (this will help to avoid the embryo “sticking” to the shell walls). In order for development to occur correctly, an optimum humidity of 54% and a temperature of +37.8 C must be maintained inside the incubator.
Second week. At this time, the beak and skeleton will be formed in the future chicken. The temperature in the incubator should be left the same as in the first week, as for the humidity, it is lowered by 10%. In order for the embryo to receive oxygen, the chamber is ventilated for 5 minutes every 12 hours and the eggs are turned over at least 6 times.
18th day after bookmarking. Humidity during this period is increased to 50%, the eggs are turned over at least 6 times, and airing is carried out for up to 20 minutes, it is performed every 12 hours. By the end of the 18th day, the embryo begins to turn over on its own inside the egg, and when the egg is brought to the ear, squeaking can be heard.
21st since the bookmark. This development period lasts only 3 days. Eggs do not need to be turned over and the airing time is reduced to 5 minutes. The temperature drops to +37.3 C, humidity rises by 15%. If all the previous stages of development went well, then on the 21st day you will notice small pecks on the eggs. The chicks usually hatch by the end of that day, after which they are allowed to dry out, removed from the hatchery and placed in a specially designed brooder.

Conclusion

The chick does not come out of its “shell house” into the light immediately, this process occurs gradually. First, a small crack is noticed on the surface of the egg, which was formed as a result of the movements of the chicken. Then you can hear a distinct squeak, accompanied by a slight rattle (this baby scratches the shell from the inside with claws and beak). The size of the crack begins to increase and it turns into a hole, which continues to grow until the shell breaks into two parts. It takes several hours for a newborn to acquire the traditional appearance of a chicken.

As a rule, the chicks hatch very amicably within one day and do not need outside help.

At the same time, if one of the chickens was delayed with the “exit”, he should be helped by slightly opening the shell, as the mother hen usually does.

Basic rules for caring for chickens

An important point in the hatching of chickens is their cultivation after hatching. Inspection of the chicks must begin after 7 hours from the moment of their “publication”. In order to raise a healthy hen in the future, careful selection of chicks should be carried out, giving preference to individuals that meet the following criteria:

absence of bloody marks on the umbilical cord;
soft and thick fluff on the body;
uniform beak of the correct form;
wings adjacent to the body;
presence of activity;
no eye damage.

Some poultry owners are concerned about the question of how to determine the sex of the brood. To do this, there are such ways to check: the hens are more fluffy and usually hatch first, while the males have a specific gland in the cloaca area.

Regardless of gender, chickens need to be provided with suitable housing conditions and good care. This is done so.

For the first week, the room in which the box with the chicks is placed should be heated to a temperature of +30 C. It should also provide for a lighting system, since the chickens will need light for 24 hours in the first month of life. The baby house must be constantly kept clean and the bedding changed regularly.
You can feed the hatched chicks only the next day after they are born. It is best to choose liquid cereals and corn grits for this. Starting from the third day, the chicks are allowed to be given cottage cheese and herbs, previously treated with boiling water.
Particular attention should be paid to the presence of fresh and clean water in the drinker. At first, it is recommended to add glucose and ascorbic acid to it, which will contribute to the stability of the immune system.
We must not forget about the heating of the room where it is planned to settle the chickens. Hypothermia can cause the development of various diseases. It is usually accompanied by yellow diarrhea. Folk methods and disinfection of the premises will help to correct the situation.

The health of birds directly depends on the conditions of detention and a properly formulated diet.

If the chicks are given poor-quality food, they may develop food poisoning and beriberi. In addition, chickens often suffer from typhus and salmonellosis, which are caused by dirt, these diseases are immediately identified by the appearance of white discharge on the litter. The appearance of red diarrhea indicates a serious disease – coccidiosis, which is treated with veterinary drugs and the premises are disinfected. If everything is done correctly in the content, then over time the chickens will turn into energetic and healthy chickens.