How to Incubate Chicken Eggs
Incubating chicken eggs can be as easy and enjoyable as you would like to make it! We have found the dry incubation method to work best for us because we do not have to keep a constant eye on the temperature and humidity.
“Dry incubation” is not exactly completely dry as it sounds. In most incubating for the first 18 days, your temperature (still air incubator) should be 100 degrees and have a humidity of around 50%. This can require a lot of work and keeping a constant eye on the incubator. Please keep in mind, with dry incubation or the regular method, a lot does depend on your climate. Dry incubation does not work well in every location. You do have to turn eggs 3-4 times a day and the temperature should be at 100 degrees F, regardless of the method of incubation used.
The explanation of dry incubation: Day 1-18 – your humidity can be as high as 50%, but no higher. Take 1/4 cup of water and put it in one water well inside the incubator. Depending on your climate, this may be the only additional source of humidity you will need until day 19. In dry incubation, you will let the humidity go and not add any water until it gets to 25%. Once it gets that low, add a few tablespoons to the water well.
Day 19-21: You now need to raise your humidity (and stop turning eggs on day 19 so the chicks can get themselves in place to hatch!) to anywhere between 60-75%. Put the red plugs in the incubator holes if you have the Styrofoam type that needs this done. Begin by slowly filling another water well in the incubator. (If you are using a home made incubator, slowly add one cup of water and do so until you get it to the humidity that you need.) If you need to, you may fill all of the water wells. The key is that you want there to be enough humidity so you will not need to open the incubator at all days 19-21.
Only open the incubator if you need to add more water for humidity. Opening during a hatch (even to remove chicks) can lower the humidity and in turn, dry the chicks out so they will get the shell stuck to them and possibly be unable to hatch, thus perishing inside the shell. You may remove chicks (quickly) every 12-24 hours if you need to.
Be aware that as chicks hatch, the humidity will raise on its own as well. If it gets above 80%, the best thing is to remove the red plugs. If the humidity gets too high, the chicks may drown in their shells and perish.
It’s really not rocket science. After all, chickens do it daily without use of electricity or a hygrometer or text books!
