Hatching Eggs: A Beginner’s Guide to Incubation Success
There are few things on a farm that feel as magical as watching a chick hatch. One minute you’ve got a quiet incubator full of eggs, and the next you’ve got tiny fluffy dinosaurs popping out of shells like popcorn.
Hatching your own chicks is one of the most rewarding parts of keeping chickens. It’s also one of the easiest ways to grow your flock or experiment with new breeds and egg colors.
But successful incubation isn’t just luck. It comes down to a few simple things:
• starting with good hatching eggs
• stable temperature and humidity
• patience (probably the hardest part)
• and resisting the urge to open the incubator every five minutes
In this guide we’ll walk through the basics of incubating chicken eggs so beginners can avoid the most common mistakes and enjoy a successful hatch.
Choosing Quality Hatching Eggs
Not every egg will hatch. Even under ideal conditions, a realistic hatch rate usually falls somewhere between 60–85%.
That’s normal.
The quality of your eggs going into the incubator makes a huge difference in how many chicks you get at the end.
What makes a good hatching egg
Look for eggs that are:
• fertile (collected from a flock with a rooster)
• normal size and shape
• free of cracks or thin shells
• less than 7–10 days old
• clean but not washed
Eggs have a natural protective coating called the bloom. Washing eggs removes that coating and makes it easier for bacteria to enter the shell.
You can wipe eggs with a dry cloth to remove dirt and other debris.
Preparing Eggs for the Incubator
Before setting eggs in the incubator:
• allow eggs to slowly warm to room temperature
• avoid placing cold eggs directly into a warm incubator
• place eggs pointed end down
• gently brush off loose debris if needed
If eggs are slightly dirty, it’s usually better to dry brush them rather than washing them.
Choosing a Tabletop Incubator
Most backyard chicken keepers start with a tabletop incubator, and honestly they work great for beginners.
They’re compact, simple to use, and perfect for small hatches.
Most models hold 12–22 chicken eggs and include features like:
• digital temperature controls
• automatic egg turning
• humidity trays
• clear lids for monitoring eggs
If you’re still deciding what to buy, you can browse a variety of incubators here:
👉 See tabletop incubators on Amazon
https://amzn.to/4sdFSLR (affiliate link)
The Incubator We Currently Use
On our farm we currently use the Nurture Right 360 incubator, which holds about 22 eggs and automatically turns them during incubation.
👉 Nurture Right 360 Incubator
https://amzn.to/4lwbZUq (affiliate link)
The automatic turner is one of the best features, because turning eggs several times a day gets old fast if you’re doing it manually.
Our biggest complaint about this incubator is the raised tray and water refill system. The water channels can sometimes grow bacteria between hatches, even when cleaned carefully. Because of that we make sure to thoroughly disinfect the incubator between each hatch cycle.
Even with that drawback, it has still been a reliable incubator that gets the job done for small backyard hatches.
Setting Up the Incubator
Before adding eggs, it’s a good idea to run the incubator for 24 hours empty.
This lets temperature and humidity stabilize before you commit eggs to the process.
Ideal incubation settings for chicken eggs
Temperature
99.5°F (forced-air incubators)
Humidity
40–50% during days 1–18
Ventilation
Ensure air holes remain open.
Temperature stability matters more than hitting the exact number perfectly.
Candling Eggs
Candling lets you see what’s developing inside the egg during incubation.
Most people candle eggs around day 7 and day 14 to check fertility and development.
You don’t need anything fancy for this. A small LED candling light works great.
👉 Egg Candling Flashlight
https://amzn.to/4sKx67Y (affiliate link)
A few quick candling tips:
• candle eggs in a dark room
• keep the egg large end up
• handle eggs gently and quickly
If you’re incubating very dark eggs like Black Copper Marans, candling can be harder because the shell is so dark. Often you’ll only be able to see the air cell and faint shadows, which is completely normal.
The 21 Day Chicken Incubation Timeline
Chicken eggs usually hatch in about 21 days.
Here’s what happens during those three weeks.
Days 1–7: Early Development
The embryo begins forming.
By day 7 fertile eggs should show visible veins when candled.
Days 8–14: Rapid Growth
During this stage the chick develops organs, bones, and feathers.
Eggs should continue to be turned several times a day unless your incubator handles that automatically.
Candling around day 14 can help remove eggs that stopped developing.
Days 15–18: Final Development
The chick begins positioning itself for hatch.
You should see a clear air cell at the large end of the egg.
Lockdown (Days 18–21)
This stage is called lockdown, and it’s where many beginners accidentally ruin their hatch.
At day 18:
• stop turning the eggs
• increase humidity to 65–70%
• leave the incubator closed
Humidity becomes extremely important during this stage.
The Hatching Process
Chicks hatch in three stages.
Internal pip
The chick breaks into the internal air cell.
External pip
A tiny hole appears in the shell.
Zipping
The chick rotates and cracks the shell open.
This process can take 12–24 hours, and sometimes longer.
It’s slow. It’s messy. And it’s completely normal.
Do NOT Open the Incubator During Hatch
This is probably the hardest rule for new chicken keepers.
When chicks are actively hatching, leave the incubator closed.
Opening the incubator drops humidity quickly, which can cause chicks to become shrink wrapped inside the shell.
Shrink wrapping happens when the inner membrane dries and sticks to the chick before it can hatch.
It’s heartbreaking and completely avoidable.
So during hatch day:
Hands off the incubator.
When Chicks Hatch
Once chicks hatch, they’ll stay in the incubator while they dry.
Newly hatched chicks do not need food right away.
Before hatching they absorb nutrients from the yolk, which provides enough energy for 48–72 hours.
During that time they’ll dry out, fluff up, and start looking like tiny puffballs instead of damp little gremlins.
Moving Chicks to the Brooder
Once chicks are dry and active, they can be moved to a prepared brooder.
We’ll cover brooder setup and chick care in another guide, because that’s a whole topic on its own.
What Hatch Rate Should You Expect?
Even experienced hatchers rarely get a 100% hatch.
Typical backyard hatch rates look something like this:
Good conditions
70–85%
Average conditions
50–70%
Shipped eggs
30–60%
Don’t get discouraged if your first hatch isn’t perfect.
Every hatch teaches you something.
Interested in Hatching Your Own Chicks?
We occasionally offer fertile hatching eggs from our Blue Ribbon Creek flock, including crosses that produce beautiful colored eggs like olive eggers and dark brown layers.
👉 See our current flock and egg colors here
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Final Thoughts
Incubating eggs is part science, part patience, and part standing over the incubator like an expectant parent.
Once you hatch your first chicks, though, there’s a good chance you’ll want to do it again.
And again.
And suddenly you’re explaining to your spouse why there are three incubators running in the laundry room.
Ask us how we know.