Those who want a hen to hatch eggs should set up a ‘nursery’ in a separate enclosure. If the mother hen is not separated, there is a danger of either chickens or eggs getting damaged or eaten by other hens. In spite of taking adequate precautions, using a hen for hatching is quite risky. Instead it is better to use an incubator.

However, prior to placing eggs in the incubator, it is important to make sure that the incubator and its accessories, such as, preferably an automatic egg turner, candler, a particular light installed to view through the eggs to watch as they develop, and water and temperature gauge are in good condition and there is proper power connection to the incubator.

Although market is flooded with extensive range of incubators, it is better to buy a good incubator that is equipped with a water tray at the bottom to retain proper humidity, an egg turner that avoids manual turning and a fan for good circulation of air and maintaining a constant temperature. It is always necessary to wear gloves when handling eggs.

Here are various steps involved in incubation process:

Day 1

As eggs have a protective coating on them, they should never be washed. If they are washed, there is a danger of contracting disease. In order to monitor desired temperature, it is essential to ensure that the incubator has been operating for at least 24 hours.

If an automatic turner is not used, it is better to place the eggs with the same mark appearing. The same procedure can be followed even when an incubator provided with automatic turner is used. In any case, there is no need to touch eggs for 18 days. If the incubator is provided with a fan, the temperature can be reduced by 2 degrees.

In most of the poultry incubators, the temperature is adjusted at 37 degrees for fan and 40 degrees, if there is no fan. All eggs should be kept in the eggs trays with the point facing downwards. The majority of incubators are provided with instructions regarding adding water to maintain the correct humidity level.

There is no need to maintain high humidity till 3 days from hatching. It is better to have a calendar on the wall near the incubator so that the desired dates are marked on it properly. These dates should be reviewed daily.

Day 3

Water level in the tray should be checked every two days, though there may not be any need to add water. One should not miss a single day. It is, therefore, essential to mark these days on the calendar.

Day 7

It is the day for ‘candling’. This will enable removal of eggs that have not started developing. Candling is a procedure in which a light is shone through the eggs to observe whether embryo had started developing. If the egg is fertile, a black blob (the eye and the brain) and perhaps a few veins spread across just like arteries can be noticed.

If the eggs are not fertile, none of these will appear. It will have the same color throughout and none of the blobs are noticeable. At this point, non-fertile eggs should be taken out from the incubator. If they are retained in the incubator, these eggs will get decayed very soon and will result in total muddle in the incubator if they break. From this day onwards, only water level requires monitoring.

Day 18

Three days remaining for hatching: At this stage, turning of eggs should be discontinued. Those who have been performing this task manually are required only to stop turning. On the other hand, those having incubators provided with automatic turning feature should take out the turning tray and softly keep the eggs back in incubator.

As chickens require high humidity for hatching some more water should be added to facilitate the process. During this period, opening of incubator door should be avoided as this will release humidity.

Day 21

Hatching: At this stage, one can hear little chickens twittering inside the eggs and some of them will start breaking open. One should not open the door of the incubator. Chickens stay alive till 48 hours without feed or water, as everything is taken care of within the egg itself when they are hatching. Even after 48 hours if eggs are not hatched, it means that they may never hatch.