Egg Hatching

[mabrown226]

This is the first time i have tired to hatch chickens and i built a incubator from ply wood. Before putting the eggs in my temp was holding right at 98 100 F. I have a waffer to control the light i put a pan of water under the egg tray and a old computer fan to run across the eggs. The eggs have been in there for 2 weeks and now one of the eggs have started to hatch but i am not sure if it is good or should i through it out. any advice would be great.

[Thomzo]

If it's starting to hatch then wait and see how it comes out. Early hatching can be a sign that the temperature is a bit high but that isn't always a problem. I had one hatch out after about two and a half weeks and it was (and still is) absolutely fine.

When it does hatch it'll stomp all over the other eggs. This can cause problems if it starts bashing them about and could damage them. Find a small box and pop the chick inside (still in the incubator) while it dries out or partition a section off.

Happy hatching, it's so great seeing them burst out into the world.

Zoe