INCUBATING AND HATCHING YOUR OWN EGGS

There are several reasons to incubate and hatch poultry eggs artificially. One is to increase or maintain your own flock. In this case, an understanding of poultry genetics will be helpful in selecting parents for mating. Another reason is as a classroom experience for K-12 students. 'Embryology in the classroom' is a popular activity and can be adapted for a wide variety of science, and non-science, topics.

INTRODUCTION

Embryology

HATCHING EGGS

It is important to start out with clean, fertile hatching eggs.

INCUBATION

Incubation of poultry (University of Missouri)

Hatching your own chicks (University of Maine)

Quail

Incubating and hatching quail (Raisequail.com)

TROUBLESHOOTING FAILURES WITH EGG INCUBATION

It is unlikely that you will have 100% of your eggs hatch. If you get particularly low hatchability it is important to break out the eggs that did not hatch to try and figure out what the problem was and make corrections for the next hatch.

It is also a good management practice to candle the eggs after the first week of incubation and remove any infertile or dead embryos.

Candling eggs (University of Illinois)

Egg candling and breakout analysis (University of California)

Common incubation problems: Causes and remedies (University of California)

Chick embryo malpositions and deformities (University of Florida)

INCUBATORS

Article - The five best incubators (The Chicken Hub)

CQF Manufacturing (Savannah, Georgia)

Stromberg's (Pine River, Minnesota)

Building an incubator (University of Illinois)

DISCLAIMER: References to commercial products or services provided via this Website are intended for informational and educational purposes only, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Department of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Kentucky Extension, or the University of Kentucky as a whole.