Hatching Chickens at Home - Initial Set-Up

I have always been an eccentric individual, but hatching chicks officially cements my title as the quirky weirdo in the friend group! I strongly believe that as humans, we all have our own path in life. We come across certain moments in life that can be interpreted as "signs" and on Thursday late night, I had just that happen to me. 

On my drive home I was listening to the radio and that is when I heard the advertisement for chick hatching experiences. The moment I was in front of my computer, I researched the company. For $155 plus tax, I would receive all necessary equipment to hatch fertile eggs. I am not even exaggerating when I say that within minutes I had entered my payment information and submitted my order. The next pick-up window was two days away on Saturday and it just so happened to be at the Ikea adjacent to my house. 

Can we all just agree that this chick hatching experience was basically begging me to do it because the dates lined up perfectly AND the pick-up location was in my very own neighborhood! 

Each kit contains:

• Incubator
• Fertile Eggs
• Brooding Bin (with wood shavings, chick food and water dish)
• Brooding Lamp
• Non-Slip Mat

I thought the eggs would be from Broiler Hens - the commercially farmed chicken for human meat and egg consumption, but in actuality, I received an assortment of eggs from decorative chicken breeds. 

6 EGGS TOTAL:

2x Crested Turkens (CT)

1x Barred Rock (BR)

2x Silkie Bantam (SLK) 

1x Serama Bantam (SP)

3 of the eggs were of "normal" size while the other 3 were tiny, nearly half in size. The eggs are unwashed because washing the eggs could impact fertility. Also, the eggs were of varying shades of white to brown and shape. 

The average incubation time for these chicken eggs is 21 days, so estimated Hatch Day is Saturday, March 12th! I will also be candling the eggs on four times to observe the chick development!

There is a picture below of the eggs within the incubator. The divided by slats based on size. The tray attaches to a dial that slowly rotates the eggs every few hours. You also need to place a couple tablespoons of water every day or so to maintain adequate humidity within the incubator. Thus far, the incubation temperature has been around 38 C. As tempting as it is, eggs should not be touched and the incubator always remain closed so that the temperature and humidity does not drop. 

There will be lots more pictures and updates coming your way. I was too darn excited to set everything up yesterday that I forgot to take pictures for you all. 

BYES