Hatching your own eggs doesn't have to be difficult, not these days where we have incubators that automatically turn our eggs and there are some out there that you can pop your egg in and then forget about it for 21 days and hey presto we have a chick!!!! but hey where is the fun in that.

When I was a boy I found a mallards nest and boys being boys i decided that I would take some of the eggs, at the time it was to blow them and add them to my collection, but fate had it that my uncle intervened and we took the four eggs and popped them in a box with some cotton wool and into the airing cupboard they went, well I must have done something right because two weeks later I went to turn them and give them a spray of water and in amongst the bath towels two little yellow and brown heads popped up to greet me. these were the only two that hatched and I named them grouse and claret, and they lived to the ripe old age of 8 and I have to say I was hooked, hatching everything from blackbirds to terrapins and none of those early ones ever saw the inside of an incubator.

I don't recommend doing it that way these days, and I really don't advise anybody to take wild birds eggs and try to hatch them, one, their mum can do a much better job than you could ever do and two, well you might end up with a hefty fine if your caught doing that now aday.

So you have your chicken eggs, or duck, goose, ostrich?? whats next?

I assume that you have an incubator so first let your eggs settle for 24 hours, take this time to make sure that you incubator is running ok and the temperature is set right, humidity is important as well and depending on what your hatching depends on the temperature and humidity that you need to set the incubator at.

If you have an automatic incubator then its far easier, after 24 hours pop your eggs in make sure your water reservoir is topped up and sit back, check that all is well everyday, make sure that your reservoir is always full and then on day 18 or 19 stop the eggs from turning, boost the humidity up , usually by an extra 20%, and keep your eyes on the eggs over the next two or three days. With luck and a prevailing wind your eggs will start to hatch on the allotted date, but if they don't leave them for a few days, some might be a bit late.

Now if your incubator is a manual one then you will need to turn the eggs yourself, I much prefer this method, mark one side of each egg with a pencil, not a felt tip or a Biro as the eggs are porous, when you put your eggs in the cradles make sure that the mark is facing upwards then when its time to turn simply turn each egg so the mark is at the bottom, do this anywhere from 2 to 7 times a day and then again make sure that you stop turning 3 or 4 days before the hatch date.

Leave the new born's in the incubator for 24 hours, don't worry about food or water as they will absorb the yolk during this time.

HATCHING YOUR OWN EGGS