Hatching Eggs: How to Hatch Chicken Eggs at Home

Watching eggs hatching into fluffy chicks is amazing. There’s a reason that children sometimes incubate eggs as a class project in primary school. Howeverit can also be slowfrustratingand fiddlyespecially for first-timers who don’t know what to expect. 

Rest assured! We will cover everything you need to know to get started in your home.

Before You Start: Eggs and Equipment 

Hatching eggs is a relatively simple processbut there are still a few pieces of equipment you will need to get started—most importantlythe incubator. 

• An incubator is a substitute mother hen for your unhatched eggsdoing the vital work of keeping them warm. It also ensures the heat and humidity of the eggs’ environment are constantwhich is crucial for healthy development. Some incubators will also turn the eggs for you.
• Before you place any eggs in the incubatordisinfect it with a 10 percent bleach solutionand turn it on for a trial run. Place it somewhere with relatively stable temperaturesnot directly by an A/C unit or under a window. Ensure the interior temperatures and humidity remain stable before placing your eggs inside. Which leads us to …
• Eggs! The most reliable place to get fertilized eggs is from a  local hatchery. The more local your hatcherythe better; the less time your eggs spend in transitthe healthier they will be.
• If you have a rooster who lives with your hensyou can also get fertilized eggs from your backyard! This is undoubtedly the easiestmost affordable option.

How Long Does It Take For Eggs to Hatch? 

Chicken eggs must incubate for about 21 days (3 weeks) before hatching. This timeline will let you know what to do and when to have the best chance of hatching healthy chicks. 

Day 0: 

Before incubationeggs can be stored in a cooldry space for up to 7 days. Only do this if you are collecting your own eggs and want enough to set. Set at least six eggs at a time; chickens are flock animalseven in uteroand they will not thrive if set or raised in small numbers.

(Ever heard about the age-old method of setting eggs by the Moon’s sign? Learn more.)

Day 1: 

Place the eggs “upside down” in the incubatorwith the smaller end pointing down and the largerrounded end sticking up. Start the incubator at about 100°F and 50 percent humidity. 

Throughout the first 18 days of incubationit’s important to turn each egg three to five times per dayevery day. This is the same thing a hen would do if she were sitting on the eggsand it ensures the embryo remains correctly oriented on top of the yolkand also—believe it or not—keeps it from sticking to the sides of the shell.

If you bought a self-turning incubatoryou can sit backrelaxand let the robots do the work for you!

Otherwiseturning the eggs is relatively simple. 

1. Wash your hands or wear clean glovesas germs from your hands that touch the porous eggshell can transfer to and damage the embryo.
2. Then open the incubator and simply rotate each eggkeeping the orientation—with the small end pointing downwards—the same.
3. If you want help remembering which eggs have been turnedmark them with a pencil—but never a pen! The ink can seep through the porous shell and damage the chick. 

Days 7 to 10: 

After about a weekyour eggs will be ready for candling. Candling is a way to tell whether your embryos are developing properly by shining a light through them. 

It can be tempting to candle your eggs before a week is upor to candle them more than onceas it’s exciting to see your chicks developing! Howevereggs and embryos are fragileand should be handled as infrequently as possible and for the shortest possible length of time. 

Turn off the lights and shine a small torch through the eggshell; darker-shelled eggs require a brighter light. This will enable you to see which structures are developing inside the egg. 

• If you see a structure of blood vesselspotentially with a dark patch where the chick is developingcongratulations! This is a healthy eggwell on its way to hatching.
• If you see a small red circlethe embryo inside the egg has died at some point during development.
• If you see no internal structures at allthat egg was infertile. 

Although it can be sadremoving eggs that aren’t developing correctly is essential. Otherwisethese eggs may contaminate the healthy eggs still growing in the incubator. Any eggs that break or leak during incubation must also be removed regardless of how they look during candling. 

Days 11 to 18:

Keep turning those eggs three to five times dailyto avoid fatalities. Three turns are the minimumand five turns are ideal.  

Remember to wash your hands or wear clean gloves before touching the eggs to avoid disease and other issues.

Days 18 to 21: 

Good news! After 18 daysyou can finally stop turning your eggs! The chicks are big enough to keep themselves correctly oriented and unstuck without your help. Before you kick back and relaxturn the humidity up to 70 percent to help prepare the chicks for their big day. 

Day 21: 

Break out the trumpets and confettibecause your chicks are about to hatch!! Eventually. 

As any mother will tell youthe baby will come out when it’s good and readyand that might take a while—anywhere between 5 to 24 hours for chicks. 

Once they start hatchingas agonizing as the wait can beit’s important to let them come out at their own pace. Removing the shell too soon can tear blood vessels still attached to itinjuring or even killing your chick. 

Chicks are very socialso once one chick emerges and starts peepingthe others will be even more eager to join it. Don’t worry if some or even all of your eggs don’t hatch on Day 21; it can take up to 23 days for some eggs to hatchespecially if they were stored before being incubated. By Day 23candle any unhatched eggs to check for a living embryothen discard them.

Caring for Chicks 

Once your chicks hatchany chicken-keeper knows the work has only begun. Howeveronce they’re all hatchedI give you permission to do what I did when I successfully hatched my first brood and throw yourself a five-minute dance party. I recommend doing the Chicken Dance. 

Once the high has worn offturn the heat on the incubator down to 95and make sure your brooder is warming up and stocked with food and water. Let your chicks dry off in the incubator before transferring them to the brooder.

Congratulations! You’ve just grown yourself a new flock of birds from scratch! Hatching eggs is thrilling in itselfbut I think the best part is yet to come: watching these tiny chicks grow up and learn to navigate the world all on their own. See how to raise baby chicks.

Years from nowyou can watch them fighting over food scraps and bickering at one another in the yardremember the day you watched them come into the worldand look back with pride on all the work you’ve done to get them from a few cells in a fragile eggshell to the beautiful birds in your backyard!

To raise chickenssee our complete guidefrom choosing the right breed to building a coop.