8 Reasons To Hatch Eggs In An Incubator
Why on earth would anyone bother hatching eggs in an incubator when it’s so much easier to let a broody hen do all the work? Assuming you want to hatch out your own chicks in the first place, and you are ready to deal with the 50 to 60% of the chicks that turn out to be roosters, here are eight reasons to hatch eggs in an incubator and why some of us backyard chicken keepers become incurable hatchaholics.
1. You don’t have a reliable setting hen. A hen that decides to brood for the first time may give up before her eggs hatch. If you have fertile eggs that are particularly valuable, you might not want to trust them to a hen with no proven track record in the hatching department.
2. Your chosen breed is generally not known for having reliable setters and good mothers. Light, flighty breeds selectively bred for high egg production particularly don’t have strong mothering instincts, although occasionally one of these hens fails to read the owner’s manual.
3. You have no private place where the hen can brood. A hen that decides to set in a community nest, for instance, may take a brief excursion off the nest, another hen enters the nest to lay an egg, and the broody returns to find her original spot occupied — so she settles on the wrong eggs. Even when a hen successfully hatches eggs in a coop among other chickens, the other birds may pick on the little ones after they hatch.
4. Unavoidable disturbances, such as from local wildlife or household pets, may create an unfavorable environment for brooding. If a setting hen leaves her nest early, falls victim to a predator in midterm, or makes her nest in an environment that would be unsafe for hatchlings, you can save the day by gathering up the eggs and hatching them in an incubator.
5. You want to hatch more chicks than a setting hen can accommodate. Most hens can cover 12 to 18 eggs of the size they lay. Let’s say you’re working to restore an endangered breed or you are trying to produce the perfect show bird — you would better accomplish your purpose by hatching out as many chicks as possible.
6. You may want all your hens to continue laying eggs. Laying stops when setting starts, and a broody hen won’t begin laying again for another month or so after her eggs hatch. If you wish to hatch out large numbers of chicks, or you rely on your hens’ eggs for family meals or for sale, a broody hen can put a crimp in production numbers.
7. You maintain a sustainable flock that is acclimated to your particular locale. When you have your own breeder flock, hatch their eggs, and raise their chicks on your own property, your chickens will be better acclimated to your environment than birds brought in from elsewhere.
8. You are seeking a fun and educational activity for yourself, your children, or your students. Nothing is more exciting or sparks livelier conversations than watching an egg go from an oval thing with a hard shell to a fluffy, peeping, bright-eyed, energetic baby chick. Go for it!
Originally published in Backyard Poultry and regularly vetted for accuracy.
This is a bit off topic, but I noticed when reading this article that the author refers to “…the 50 to 60% of the chicks that turn out to be roosters,…”
I’m way on the wrong side of 70, and don’t remember not hatching and raising poultry. During this time, I’ve seen occasional references to a male to female hatch ratio of 60/40. My experience over the years is that slightly more males than females hatch out, although I’ve not kept records on this. In order to be reliable, I think that many thousands of eggs would need to be hatched in order to determine any degree of accuracy on this, and I’m not aware of any studies specific to this ratio. There seems to be quite a bit of debate over whether it’s possible to hatch only (or mostly) females, but those arguments tend to be about egg shape or refrigerating the eggs before incubation. (My own opinion on this is that neither method produces more of one sex than the other.). I’d like to know what you believe the hatch ratio is, 50/50, or 60/40. Thank you. .
Hello Ali,
Thank you for such an interesting question. All the research that I’ve read (coming out of the U.S., Germany, Korea, and Turkey) indicates that while close to the 50/50 mark, it’s not uncommon for hatch rates to be 60/40 male/female. Hatch ratios do skew toward more male chicks, but not by all that much. There are lots of rumors about how to affect hatch rates, but none of them (such as incubation temperature) can be scientifically verified consistently.