The Weather Is Getting Warmer, Are You Ready To Hatch Your Chicks?

When the chick was first born, its fur was not all combed and it was wet all over. It’s not easy for a chick as cute as the one in the video to grow into what it is today, thanks to the mother hen’s careful care for nearly a month. Now let's review the process of a hen hatching her chicks.

A hatching egg is a fertilized egg. Fertilized eggs are eggs laid by a hen and a rooster after mating. Only fertilized eggs can hatch into chicks. Choose fresh hatching eggs, no older than one week at the latest, and the number should be an odd number, between 21-29 eggs depending on the size of the hen. Try to put in all the eggs on the same day. When choosing hatching eggs, there is no size limit, but you should choose ones with different heads. Before the eggs are hatched, it is best to soak them in warm water at a temperature of about 40 degrees. It is better to touch them with warm hands but not hot to activate the embryos.

First of all, you need to find a safe place for the hens to incubate. It is ideal to choose a room with dark light, good air circulation, and no noise to incubate eggs. Bamboo baskets, wooden barrels, earthenware jars, cardboard boxes, etc. can be used. A layer of dry straw or old cotton is placed at the bottom to make a traditional nest shape to help keep the eggs warm and for the hen to hold. The hen can hatch about 8 eggs in each nest.

Hens can usually hatch chicks only when the weather is warm in spring and summer, because the optimal temperature for eggs to hatch is between 35-40 degrees. If the temperature is too low, the embryo will not develop; if the temperature is too high, the embryo will die easily. If the temperature is relatively low in spring, the hens' lighting time must be lengthened. Only when the lighting is sufficient can the hens produce more heat. Generally, the lighting time is between 12-14 hours. If the temperature is too high, cooling is required, otherwise the embryo will die.

Once the hen starts hatching chicks, it is necessary to prepare sufficient food and water for the hen at one time. In addition, hens are more afraid of humans when they are hatching chicks, so it is best not to look at the hens often to avoid causing panic. Hens only need to be fed water and food once a day. Take the hen out of the coop, move it to defecate, and feed and defecate at a fixed time. Help turn the eggs once a day after the hen comes out of the nest, move the eggs in the middle to the edge of the nest, and move the eggs on the edge of the nest to the center so that the embryonated eggs can be heated evenly.

The hatching time varies depending on the season. In summer, when the weather is hot, chicks can be hatched in about 19-20 days; in winter, it may take about 22 or 23 days.

When the hatching reaches 18 days, you can use warm water to test the water. That is, put the eggs in warm water and let them stand still. If the eggs float and sway, they are alive. If they sink to the bottom, they are solid eggs and should be eliminated.

The chicks will chirp inside the shell a day or two before they hatch, and the response from the hen is said to help the chicks hatch. Do not help the chick when it hatches. It will adapt to the process on its own. If you try to help it hatch a minute earlier, your life will be in danger.

A newly hatched chick is wet and needs the hen's body temperature. The chick has to dry its feathers next to the hen before it can be moved to another place. At the peak of hatching, it is necessary to remove the broken eggshells in time, wrap the hatched chicks in cotton wool and place them in a place with a temperature of around 35°C or above. The born chicks can go without food for three days. About 20 hours after hatching, they can be given warm water. After 2 hours of water, they can start eating, with a small amount of broken rice or rice.

Although large farms now have professional hatching equipment, at LongMu Ecological Agriculture we still choose the most traditional method of hens hatching chicks. As long as the hens hatch chicks, the above requirements are strictly met during the process. Under certain conditions, the physique of the chicks will be much better than those hatched by machine, and it will be easier to raise the chicks later.

Hen hatching - the conditions required for hen hatching: brooding hens, fertilized eggs, and simple chicken coops.

Steps for hen incubation: When a hen appears in the house that has stopped laying eggs and starts to move away from the nest, prepare eggs for incubation. Fertilized fresh eggs within 3 days are needed. Place the hatched eggs into a chicken nest, usually 15 to 18 eggs per nest. Then put the hens that have been lying in the nest for 3 days and let them hatch.

When hatching, the chicken nest should be placed in a relatively quiet place. When the eggs are hatched, the eggs should be covered in time to keep them warm after the hen leaves the chicken nest after eating and drinking.

On the 7th day and the 15th day of incubation, the eggs were illuminated and the infertile eggs and dead embryonated eggs were picked out. Generally, chicks can hatch after 19 to 21 days.

The characteristic of using hens to hatch chicks is that it does not require manual management, is simple and convenient, and has low cost. The disadvantage is that the number of hatches is limited.

Electric blanket incubation- If there are no hens in the nest, you can also use an electric blanket to heat the incubation.

Materials required: electric blanket, foam box, thermometer, cotton wool, fertilized eggs

Incubation steps: Use a foam box about 50 cm long and wide, lay a thick layer of cotton wool on the bottom of the box to keep warm, and then lay an electric blanket on it to make a simple incubation box. Place the hatching eggs on an electric blanket with a thermometer in the middle and start hatching. During incubation, the temperature should be controlled at around 37 to 38 degrees, fluctuating around 1 degree in the middle. Eggs should be turned over every 2 hours. During the entire incubation process, eggs should be looked at 3 times to remove dead embryonated eggs. It usually takes about 21 days for the chicks to hatch.

Light bulb hatching--If you don't have an electric blanket, there is another simplest method, which is to use electric light heating to hatch the chicks.

Materials required: incandescent light bulb, foam box, thermometer, cotton wool, fertilized eggs

Incubation steps: first lay a thick layer of cotton wool on the bottom of the foam box, place the hatching eggs on the cotton wool, and install a light bulb in the foam box. The light bulb must be an incandescent bulb. A small box contains a 60-watt incandescent light bulb. A large box contains a 60-watt incandescent bulb. There are two 25-watt incandescent light bulbs in the box. The light bulbs are about 10 cm away from the eggs. A small bowl of water and a thermometer are also needed in the box to control the humidity and temperature. The eggs should be turned three times a day, and the eggs should be photographed once on the 7th, 11th, and 15th days of incubation. Generally, the chicks will hatch in about 21 days.