Our 'Electric' Hen

Our hens get 'broody' from time to time and want to set on their eggs.  To this point we've not had success in them ever hatching out chicks with one exception.  One time a hen laid eggs in a "secret nest" up in the loft of the barn.  We heard at least one chick and saw the newborn chick running up on top of the hay bales, but never saw any chicks after that.  I assume that a rat or some other critter got it.

One thing that we have had success with the couple of times we've done it was incubating our hens' eggs with our Hova-bator Incubator: Our electric hen!  We ordered it online about 5 years or so ago from one of the Hatcheries (Murray McMurray, I think) and it cost about $75, if I remember correctly.  It is a simple little device that will save you some money as Barred Rock Chickens (straight run) will cost you $2.35 a piece!  The incubator will hold 42 eggs. The incubator has more than paid for itself in the times we've used it.

We decided it was time to fill up the incubator and try to hatch out some more.  The rule of thumb from what I've read is that you need to have around 1 rooster for every 10 hens to ensure that your eggs are fertilized. We have plenty of roosters strutting around the pasture and they are always romancing the hens, so I'm pretty sure a high percentage of the eggs are fertilized.

Benjamin gathered the eggs like he always does in the late afternoon, but he was excited today, because he wasn't going to have to wash them and pack them in cartons.  These, instead of going in the fridge for our use or our customers' use, were going to go in the incubator.  We need to replace some of our older hens with new, fresh hens in order to keep egg production constant.  Some of our old girls have been laying for years and years.

The Eggman

I had been working on the thermostat for the incubator, getting it adjusted properly where it would hold a pretty constant temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit.  I ran it for about a day until I got it all stabilized.

In addition to keeping the temperature at a constant level, it is important that the humidity is right, too.  The directions say to fill the center trough with water and keep it filled by adding water every few days.  At the very end, with 2 to 3 days left until the hatch, you are to fill all the troughs with water.

Adding H2O to the center trough

We have a little electric turner that slowly rotates the eggs back and forth.  This replicates what a real hen will do in moving them around.  You load the eggs in the turner with the small (or pointy) ends facing down. Benjamin got busy loading the turner.  There were a few eggs that had some poop on them and we left those out. Only the clean eggs without cracks went into the incubator.

Loading the incubator

Finally we got it all loaded.  As you can see, the Hovabator Incubator will hold 42 eggs.  Here's the thing with hatching your own eggs - normally, experience has shown us that you can pretty much count on 50% hens and 50% roosters, so if every egg hatches (which rarely happens) only half will be hens.  The roosters... Well, the roosters will be raised until they are 'eating size,' then they'll be butchered and will make a nice gumbo or fricassee.

The other thing about hatching out these eggs is that some (or a lot) of these chicks will be mixed breed.  We have Barred Rock, Rhode Island Red, Aracauna, and Black Star hens and roosters running around on the pasture.  We don't keep them separated by breed, so we'll just get what we get.  An egg is an egg is an egg as far as making omelets go!  Look at those eggs.  Aren't they pretty?  I always think that 'country eggs' are just nice to look at.

Pretty eggs of all shade.

We placed the thermometer on top of the eggs and we'll watch it each day, several times a day to ensure that the temperature stays steady at 100 degrees F.  We had the top off of the incubator and you can see that the temperature reading is room temperature, 77 - 78 degrees.  Once we put the top on it, the temperature will increase as the incubator warms until it hits 100 degrees and then the thermostat will cut it off.

Watching as the mercury rises

There is a window on top of the incubator so that you can see the eggs, the turner and the thermometer. There are also two vent holes that are plugged with red plastic plugs.  You can only see one of them at the top.  These plugs should be opened if excessive humidity causes water drops to form on the glass.  There is also a red light (bottom right) that lights up when the little warmer clicks on and turns off once the thermostat cuts it off.

Our electric hen at work

We will continue to monitor things daily.  Chicken eggs take 21 days to hatch, so if my math is right, hopefully we'll be seeing our first baby chicks beginning somewhere in the evening of Monday, August 25th. The anticipation of new life is something that never loses a sense of awe and anticipation.  We'll keep you posted on the progress. What came first, the chicken or the egg?  Why, what a silly question.  The chicken came first.