Want to grow your flock, but you don’t have a broody hen? Hatch your chickens using an incubator! Here are beginner’s tips for hatching chickens in an incubator.
Chicks from a farm store almost cost me an arm and a leg! I got tired of paying high prices for a process I knew I could do myself at home.
I asked for an incubator for Christmas, focused on supplementing my rooster for best fertility rates, and the rest is history.
Here is how I cut out the middleman and hatched my chicks in an incubator.
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The Good Kind of Chicken Math
There’s a saying that says “If you want eggs every year, add six hens to your flock.”
And on some levels, the math makes sense. Hens have a prime laying span of about two years. After that, some birds can get unreliable or infrequent.
But when you calculate the cost of adding that many hens to your flock every year, that can get expensive. Chicks, depending on the breed, can go $8 per chick! In 2025, we purchased Cornish Cross meat chickens and spent $5.99 per chick. Specific breeds, like ISA Browns or Easter Eggers, were running $7.99 per chick.
While the money spent on chicks alone may not amount to much, the additional money spent on gear, feed, and run space will add up quickly!
That’s where hatching chickens with an incubator comes in.
If you decide to keep a rooster, you won’t have to buy hatching eggs. If your rooster fertilizes the majority of your flock, you will have a good chance of replenishing your flock several times over each year.
Even if you don’t keep a rooster – an incubator eliminates your need for a local farm supply store. You have essentially cut out the middleman because you can purchase fertilized eggs from a trusted source in your community.
When you find a reputable source for hatching eggs, you can limit things like introducing disease to your flock or chick mortality related to stress from moving.
However, as with any new technology on an urban homestead, there is a learning curve.
Here’s how you can hatch chicks in an incubator.
Table of Contents
Feel free to jump around this blog post. Here is a table of contents that outlines what we talk about in this blog post.
What Do Developing Chicks Need?
How to Choose the Right Incubator
Even More Details About the Hatching Process
How Much Money Does Hatching Chicks Save You?
How Do I Know I Had a Successful Hatch?
How to Care for Day-Old Chicks
The Hatching Process
A chicken’s incubation period is about 21 days. That does not mean that from the day the egg is laid to the time it hatches is exactly 21 days, though.
Let me explain.
A hen is considered fertile for about two weeks after a rooster has been housed with hens. The sperm from a rooster is stored in the hen’s oviduct, where a portion of it is released every time she lays an egg.
If you house multiple breeds together but want to hatch a certain breed, this is where separating breeds becomes important. You want to isolate the breed you want to hatch for at least two to four weeks before collecting eggs to hatch.
Some experts say the longer you wait, the better. The longer you wait to collect hatching eggs, the higher your chance of hatching your desired breed.
When you are ready to collect fertile eggs, you can begin incubating eggs within a week of collecting them. Some say hatching eggs are good at room temp for about 7 days before you risk harming the embryo and jeopardizing fertility.
That additional 7 days brings your potential hatching time to 28 days. So when you factor in how long ago the eggs were laid versus when you start the incubator, you can see you have a few days of wiggle room!
Most will estimate the hatch date from when they placed fertile eggs in the incubator. On average, a chick hatches in 21 days.
In my experience, my chicks hatch in 21 to 23 days. Because I used fertile eggs laid over a three or four-day period, I ran my incubator for a few extra days to make sure any chicks that were still developing had every chance to hatch.
Every incubator operates differently, but the environment for hatching chicken eggs is fairly consistent. Chicken eggs hatch at about 99 to 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit and with a humidity of about 55 percent.
In the last three days in an incubator, be sure humidity levels reach about 70 percent. It’s critical you don’t open the incubator, or open it as little as possible. Every time you open the incubator, you are releasing humidity. Fluctuations in humidity can affect the outcome of your hatch.
As chickens hatch in our incubator, they tend to hatch in waves.
In 2025, we had about 8 chickens hatch before lunch and another 7 hatch before bedtime. Two more hatched overnight. Our incubator holds 22 eggs, so our hatch rate was 17 chicks, or about 70 percent success rate.
We do not remove chicks every time they hatch. We remove them after every wave. Again, it’s critical to maintain the humidity in the incubator!
Why Is Humidity Control Important?
Chickens need steady humidity during hatching for a few different reasons.
First, the membrane inside the shell must stay moist so chicks can break through it and the shell. This is a process called pipping. If the membrane is dry, it becomes tough. This will create a shrink-wrap effect on the chicks.
Second, chicks need humidity to keep their feathers wet. If the humidity is too low, they risk drying out and sticking to the insides of their shells.
Finally, low humidity can cause chicks to be weak or even underdeveloped.
There may be a small hole or a vent in your incubator that controls humidity. Other methods include keeping a pan with water around, removing water with a sponge, or introducing a humidifier. Keep in mind, that controlling humidity will all depend on the incubator you choose to use.
When friends ask me if they can call me a crazy chicken lady…
…I like to think I’m a scientist instead!
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What Else Do Developing Embryos Need?
Developing chickens have everything they need in their egg.
How cool is that?!
There is something called an air cell that remains in the egg as the embryos develop. This is what the chicken will take its first breath from and what cushions the egg from shock.
The yolk is the food for a growing chick.
In order to hatch, the chick does need warmth and humidity. Both can be supplied by an incubator or a broody hen.
Chicks also need to be rotated during incubation. This is because chicks can get stuck to the membrane inside the shell. They can also settle in a position that’s not favorable for hatching.
In an incubator, there is usually an automatic egg turner that is set on a timer to turn the eggs for you. However, there are some incubators that require you to manually turn the eggs.
Toward the end of the chick’s incubation period, about 18 days in, the automatic turner will need to be disabled or removed from the incubator. The chick will naturally position itself for hatching.
Days of Incubation Explained
Incubation can be broken up into two different “phases.”
The first is days the eggs need to be rotated. Days 1 to 18 are when chicken embryos are growing rapidly.
By day 3, the heart is beating and blood vessels are visible. By day 11, feathers are visible, and other features, like the comb and feet, are developed. By day 18 the growth of the chick is nearly complete!
Through the first 18 days, you can candle an egg, or shine a bright light through the shell to monitor development. Some incubators come equipped with a candling feature, but a bright flashlight will do the trick too.
You can tell there is a developing chick in an egg if you see blood vessels. You can also tell if the majority of the egg is darkened. If you visibly see the yolk, the egg is not fertilized and may need to be removed from the incubator.
When you candle an egg, be sure to do so quickly. You want to maintain temperature and humidity so the eggs continue to develop!
Around day 18, the chick takes up most of the space in the egg. The air cell takes up the rest of the space inside of the egg. Days 18 to 21 are when the chick needs to settle on its back to prepare to hatch. This is the second phase of incubation.
By day 21, the chick has its egg tooth and begins making its way through the membrane and shell. This process can sometimes take hours. The chick begins breathing on its own, breaks through the shell, and forces the shell apart all before it can stand. That takes a lot of effort!
Some say when chicks hatch, they call to other unhatched eggs, and that encourages hatching.
By day 22 of a chick’s development, they are walking, eating, drinking, and chirping. There may be some lethargy after hatching and that’s to be expected. Be sure to keep chicks under a brooder plate or a heat lamp because they are unable to regulate their body temperature.
How Do I Choose the Right Incubator?
Choose an incubator that operates in a way you understand and hatches a volume you can care for.
I reviewed quite a few incubators before selecting this one (read my review here!). I love that this incubator has a “set it and forget it” simplicity to it. I can maintain the right temperature and ideal humidity level by monitoring the incubator once a day or so.
Both temperature and humidity are computer-controlled and projected via a screen. I don’t need to monitor either of those variables at any time during the incubation period. This incubator is incredibly user-friendly.
The type of incubator you choose should depend on how well you understand your incubator and how many chicks you can care for.
If you don’t have small children or other animals to care for like I do, you may try an incubator that requires manual egg turning. If you work outside the home or run an active homestead, maybe you opt for an incubator like mine.
If you don’t have the time, energy, or space to care for 22 chicks, perhaps you hatch fewer chicks or choose an incubator with a lower hatching capacity.
I have never made a homemade incubator. I guess my equivalent would be moving a broody, mother hen into her own pen to hatch chicks.
In theory, a homemade incubator would have a way to insulate and regulate temperature and humidity. You can regulate temperature with a heat source and a thermometer. And you can regulate humidity with a humidifier or a pan of water as we talked about earlier in the blog post.
Either automatic incubators or homemade incubators are going to rely on electricity to operate. That is a huge con. While we were incubating eggs in 2025, our power went out. Eek! You can read about how we dealt with it in this blog post.
The only way to truly incubate eggs without relying on electricity is with a broody hen. If you have a way to incubate eggs without a broody hen or electricity, comment on this blog post and let me know!
Related Blog Post: Nurture Right 360 Honest Review (Unsponsored)
More About the Incubation Process
The ambient room temperature can impact the temperature and humidity of your incubator. It’s important to keep your incubator in a room free from drafts or sudden temperature changes.
Remember that the eggs themselves and the incubator fan are creating heat. So while the room the incubator is in doesn’t need to be terribly warm, the incubator may operate best out of direct sunlight.
The first time you turn on your incubator, you may need to let it run to get up to the proper temperature and humidity. This will differ based on the manufacturer, so be sure to check the manual or instructions.
Don’t worry about stashing your incubator away in a dark room with a concentrated heat source. Just keep a consistent temperature away from a bright light and the incubator should do the rest.
How Much Money Does Hatching Chicks Save You?
Let’s break down the cost of what I spend to raise chickens. This may shine some light on whether or not I save money by hatching my own eggs.
Monthly, I spend about $80 on feed, $20 on pest control (fly traps, especially during the summer), and $17 on bedding. I average about 25 dozen eggs per month. My total cost is $117. That means my eggs cost me about $4.68 per dozen.
It doesn’t cost me anything to keep a rooster. He simply lives with my hens (to keep them fertile) and eats what they eat.
I hatched 17 chicks in my first incubation in 2025. Had I bought them from my local farm store, I would have spent $7.99 per chick for a total of $135.83. If I buy them two years in a row, I would spend $271.66.
The incubator I purchased on Amazon is normally $180. But you can purchase it on sale throughout the year and on Black Friday or Christmas. For the sake of this blog post, let’s say I purchase the incubator outright for $180.
If I hatch 17 chicks a year for two years, I would have saved myself $91.66. Buying an incubator may be more expensive in the first year, but because it’s a multi-year investment, it begins to save you money as soon as the second year.
Let’s do the math at a cheaper rate.
We raised Cornish Cross meat birds in 2025 and spent $5.99 per chick. If I bought 17 chicks from the farm store, I would have spent $101.83. If I buy them two years in a row, I would spend $203.66.
Again – by purchasing my incubator one time at $180 and hatching 17 chicks two years in a row, I still save $23.66!
But Sierra – more chickens means more feed!
More laying hens means more eggs to sell. I offset the cost of raising chickens by selling farm fresh eggs to friends and family.
I also know that farming, generally, is not a money-making endeavor. We are happy with spending a few extra dollars on food that we know was lovingly raised.
Related Blog Post: Is Raising Chickens for Eggs Worth It? Cost Breakdown 2024
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Where Can I Get Hatching Eggs?
You can get fertilized hatching eggs from members of your community or online. Mail-order eggs from hatcheries and other small farms can be sourced easily enough. You can also order based on the breed you’re interested in raising.
How Do I Know I Had a Successful Hatch?
Baby chicks that can independently exit their shells are how you know you had a successful hatch.
We have talked about how technical hatching chicks with an incubator can be. The humidity and temperature are important. And maintaining environmental factors like drafts and sunlight can impact hatch rates.
But at the end of the day, the chick will develop and hatch even if you open a window and let the incubator humidity drop below 50 percent.
The true test of a successful hatch is when that chick breaks through the eggshell. If your chick can do that, you know it’s strong and ready to join your flock.
Tending To Day-Old Chicks
Congratulations! You have successfully hatched chickens!
Day-old chicks will eat, drink, and chirp. However, they may seem lethargic. That’s normal. Hatching takes a lot of energy and they may rest before stretching their legs.
Be sure they have constant access to clean food and water. And keep them near a heat source. We use a heat lamp with a red light bulb. But a brooder plate is a common option, too.
Every day, check the chickens’ vents for a condition called pasty butt. Stool can cover their vent and prevent waste from excreting. This waste will build up in their system and kill chicks.
It’s also a good idea to change their bedding every few days. If you hatch several chicks, change their bedding more frequently because there will be more waste.
Chickens are prone to respiratory diseases. The combination of dust from bedding, dander from the chickens themselves, and any moisture from waste and water will mess their bedding up very quickly.
For the gear we use and love, check out my resources page! These are the products I recommend to everyone getting their start raising chickens.
Related Blog Post: How to Raise Chicks
Related Blog Posts
Raising chickens is simple. But animal husbandry is a fascinating subject! Here are some related blog posts to take your chicken keeping to the next level.
Which incubator do you choose? Read about the incubator we use in Nurture Right 360 Honest Review (Unsponsored).
Incubators are expensive. Are chickens worth the cost? I break down expenses and profits in Is Raising Chickens for Eggs Worth It? Cost Breakdown 2024.
When you find the right incubator and know how much money you will spend, start reading up on how to care for chicks in How to Raise Chicks.
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